On Thursday, March 28, Human Rights Watch reported that at least 170 civilians have been killed since October in the escalating violence in Cameroon. The violence has occurred primarily along linguistic lines between Cameroon’s Anglophone and Francophone populations. The ethno-linguistic tension stems from perceived discrimination against the minority Anglophone Cameroonians: The government operates primarily in French, courts have ostracized Anglophones, and Anglophones are unable to hold civil service jobs. As a result, many Anglophones feel like second-class citizens, and ties between the two communities continue to fray while trust in government, especially in Anglophone regions, has plummeted.

Both the government and separatists are accused of atrocities. According to the report, “government forces in Cameroon’s Anglophone regions have killed scores of civilians, used indiscriminate force, and torched hundreds of homes over the past six months.” The separatists, however, have also contributed to the violence through kidnappings—including of at least 300 children under age 18 years old—and two executions, says the report. Over 430,000 have fled in response to the violence. The violence is also compounding poverty in the country, as farmers have been forced to abandon their crops and exports are in decline.

As a result of the violence, earlier this week, the U.S. placed sanctions on over 20 military personnel, civilian actors, and government ministers in Cameroon. Aid programs and military training by the U.S. have been withdrawn.

Source: Brookings Institution

Pope Francis on Saturday joined Morocco’s King Mohammed VI in saying Jerusalem should be a “symbol of peaceful coexistence” for Christians, Jews and Muslims, on the first day of a visit to the North African country.

The spiritual leader of the world’s 1.3 billion Catholics was invited by King Mohammed VI for the sake of “interreligious dialogue”, according to Moroccan authorities.

In a joint statement, the two leaders said Jerusalem was “common patrimony of humanity and especially the followers of the three monotheistic religions.”

“The specific multi-religious character, the spiritual dimension and the particular cultural identity of Jerusalem… must be protected and promoted,” they said in the declaration released by the Vatican as the pontiff visited Rabat.

The Moroccan king chairs a committee created by the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation to safeguard and restore Jerusalem’s religious, cultural and architectural heritage.

The joint statement came after US President Donald Trump’s landmark recognition of the disputed city as capital of Israel, which sparked anger across the Muslim world, especially from Palestinians who see Jerusalem as the capital of their future state.

Improving relations with other religions has been a priority for the Argentine pontiff, whose papacy has been marred by clergy facing a wave of child sex abuse allegations.

Opposing extremism

Addressing thousands of Moroccans who had braved the rain to attend the welcome ceremony, Francis said it was “essential to oppose fanaticism”.

He stressed the need for “appropriate preparation of future religious guides”, ahead of meeting trainee imams later on Saturday.

Catholics are a tiny minority Morocco, where 99 percent of the population is Muslim. The king is revered across West Africa as “commander of the faithful”.

Speaking at the ceremony at the Tour (or tower) Hassan mosque and nearby mausoleum in Rabat, the monarch also voiced opposition to radicalism.

“That which terrorists have in common is not religion, it’s precisely the ignorance of religion. It’s time that religion is no longer an alibi… for this ignorance, for this intolerance,” he said.

Francis rode to the ceremony in his Popemobile, passing rows of Moroccan and Vatican City flags and an estimated 12,000 well-wishers who packed the esplanade.

Buildings had been repainted, lawns manicured and security stepped up ahead of the first papal visit to Morocco since John Paul II in 1985.

A 17-year-old was arrested after trying to throw himself onto the king’s limousine to seek the monarch’s help, the police said.

Some 130,000 people across Rabat watched the first stage of the pope’s visit, which was beamed onto giant screens, officials said.

‘Right to a future’

After stopping by the royal palace, Francis and Mohammed visited an institute where around 1,300 students are studying to become imams and preachers.

There they heard from a French and a Nigerian student of the institute, which teaches “moderate Islam” and is backed by the king.

In Morocco, where Islam is the state religion, authorities are keen to stress the country’s “religious tolerance” which allows Christians and Jews to worship freely.

But Moroccans are automatically considered Muslim, apart from a minority who are born Jewish. Apostasy is socially frowned upon, and proselytising is a criminal offence.

Those who try to “rock the faith of a Muslim or to convert him to another religion” risk a prison term of up to three years.

After years in the shadows, since 2017 the small number of converts have called openly for the right to live “without persecution” and “without discrimination”.

Around 30,000 to 35,000 Catholics live in Morocco, many of them from sub-Saharan Africa.

The pope finished his Saturday schedule by meeting migrants — including children dressed in colourful hats — at a centre run by Catholic humanitarian organisation Caritas.

“Everyone has the right to a future,” said Francis, who has throughout his papacy highlighted the plight of migrants and refugees.

He criticised “collective expulsions” and said ways for migrants to regularise their status should be encouraged.

Caritas centres in Rabat, Casablanca and Tangiers welcomed 7,551 new arrivals in 2017, according to the charity, helping migrants access services.

The number of people taking the sea route from Morocco to Spain has recently surged as it has become harder for them to pass through Libya.

Rabat claims to have a “humanistic” approach to migration and rejects allegations by rights groups of “brutal arrest campaigns” and “forced displacement” to the country’s southern border.

On Sunday, the pope will celebrate mass at a Rabat stadium with an estimated 10,000 people attending.

(AFP)

The conflict ignited almost three years ago; when minority English speakers in the Ambazonia region of Africa’s Cameroon started to speak out against the onslaught of persecution and discrimination of the dominant French-speaking government.

Only the response from the leadership was fast and furious. The situation has since escalated into a bloody battle of linguistics. “The English-speaking, independent minority have been marginalized and treated as slaves and second class citizens. This is unbearable,” Pastor Abanda Nche, 45, told Fox News from his home in Ambazonia. “If anyone speaks out against the atrocities and loathing committed by the military, you are targeted and killed, beheaded, and sometimes instantly burned alive.”

Commonly referred to as the Anglophone region, the self-declared Republic of Ambazonia – which is home to most of the country’s 25 percent English speakers have long been deemed the nation’s most poverty-stricken and underprivileged.

“Cameroon is imploding from the inside and the level of uncertainty is extremely dire,” noted David Otto, director of Counter-Terrorism and Organized Crime for the Africa-focused Global Risk International security firm. “There are multiple cases of systematic rape, summary executions, extortion, public decapitation, mutilations, amputations, arson in villages, hospitals, unlawful detention, mass arrest and humiliation tactics from both state and non-state actors.”

He said that more than 2,000 Cameroonians have been “disappeared” or killed, and many more seriously maimed or wounded by the bloodletting actions perpetrated by both armed separatist groups, government forces and “criminal elements” taking advantage of the crisis.

“There is a scorched earth policy of the military burning down houses, hospitals, schools. Bodies are burned to hide the evidence,” Nche claimed.

Men arrested in connection with Cameroon’s anglophone crisis are seen at the military court in Yaounde, Cameroon, on December 14, 2018. – Nearly 300 people who were arrested in connection with Cameroon’s anglophone crisis will be released on Friday, a day after being pardoned by President Paul Biya, the defense minister said. (AFP/Getty)  

Data provided to Fox News from the Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project (ACLED) underscored that since the start of this year alone, there have been some 46 battles, riots, protests and other violent incidents. 30 separate battles between Anglophone separatists and the French-dominant government, and at least 15 more that have resulted in violence against civilians – resulting in 11 reported fatalities.

According to UN estimates, more than 400 have been killed in the mayhem, and a further 437,000 people have been displaced, the vast majority being women and children. Over 100 schools have been burned to the ground, and entire villages are said to have been erased.

Last month a Cameroonian nonprofit group the Rural Women Center for Education and Development documented that over 300 school-age girls had become pregnant as a result of rape, perpetrated by all sides of the conflict, with many resorting to savage and life-threatening abortion methods.

Abductions by militias have also become commonplace. Last week, a 20-person university football team was kidnapped during a training session, and after days of apparent torture, were finally released and taken to the hospital. Such crimes are often committed without a group claiming responsibility, and fingers are pointed at the government and at Anglophone separatists.

Much of the frustration of the Anglophone community has been spurred by the protracted, iron-fist governing of Cameroon’s Francophile government, led by 85-year-old President Paul Biya. He has ruled since 1982 but spends the majority of his time in Switzerland.

In response to queries over whether any pressure had been put on government leadership over the alleged atrocities, the Swiss embassy in Washington told Fox News that they encourage “dialogue between the government and humanitarian organizations” and that “as a neutral and multilingual country, Switzerland further tries to support the handling of bilingualism in Cameroon.”

The Cameroon Embassy in Washington did not respond to a request for comment.

And although the slaughter has attracted little international attention since its inception, U.S. officials are starting to raise red flags over the matter.

“We continue to be extremely concerned about the situation there,” Ambassador Michael Kozak said earlier this month following the release of the 2018 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices, which underscored the “ongoing and excessive and arbitrary violence committed by the government and its security forces.”

“Not only do you have terrorist organizations, but then you’ve got the dispute between the Anglophone regions and the central government. We have had many discussions with the Cameroonian authorities about the need to investigate and hold accountable security forces when they commit abuses.”

While not explicitly a conflict that is religious in nature, given that both English and French speakers make up the 53 percent who deem themselves Christian, devoted churchgoers say they have been swept up into the turmoil despite their constant cries for peace on all sides.

The Council of Protestant Churches of Cameroon declared in November that over 50 primary and secondary schools, as well as Christian hospitals, have been impacted. Late last year, the military also took over four churches and turned them into military barracks. A few weeks earlier, some 79 children were abducted by gunmen from a Presbyterian Church school in the region’s capital, Bamenda, and returned – withered and psychologically scarred – days later, while their teacher and principal remained in captivity. The boarding school was forced to shudder after threats of further aggression.

Simon Munzu, a former UN official, who is campaigning for peace in the Anglophone regions of Cameroon, shows a threat message posted against him on social media by separatists during an interview with Reuters in Yaounde, Cameroon.(Reuters)  

At least 100 pastors from the Presbyterian Church in Cameroon, according to the Church’s official account, are estimated to have fled their homes as the situation deteriorates.

“When churches attempt to mediate or assist members of one side of the crisis, they become targets for those on the other side of the conflict,” explained Jeff King, President of International Christian Concern. “And in the midst of violence, Christian institutions have been figuratively caught in the crossfire of conflict.”

Source: Fox News

There are reports out of Cameroon that say the U.S. has sanctioned President Paul Biya’s government and accused Yaounde of committing atrocities in the ongoing anglophone crisis.  The sanctions are also said to be in place for the arrest and detention of opposition leader, Maurice Kamto.

The sanctions are said to affect more than twenty military personnel, civilians and ministers who have been banned from entering the U.S.  The names of the affected officials have not been released, but we reported that top civil administrators and ministers are included.

The visit of U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs, Tibor Nagy, has not improved relations between Cameroon and the Donald Trump administration.

The U.S. has also announced the withdrawal of many other aid and security programs promised by Washington.  An earlier offer to train the Cameroonian military has also been jettisoned.

Source: Annafrica

More than 100 soldiers assigned to 1st Battalion, 502nd Infantry Regiment, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division returned to Fort Campbell from their deployment to Cameroon on Sunday afternoon.

These “First Strike” soldiers made up the majority of Task Force Talon, which deployed to northern Cameroon from October 2018 through March 2019, according to a Fort Campbell news release.

During their deployment, the task force conducted security and infrastructure missions at Contingency Location Garoua, Cameroon, in order to provide force protection and enhance United States government strategic relationships, access and influence in the area, the release said.

The task force also worked with the U.S. State Department, the Cameroonian Armed Forces, non-government organizations and host nation partners to expand positive relationships and enable security in the region. In addition, they worked closely with U.S. Army Civil Affairs teams to provide outreach to local communities, the release said.

Source: Leaf Chronicle

UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, is today asking donors for stepped up support for half a million displaced Cameroonians who have survived over a year of ongoing violence in different parts of the country.

Violent clashes in Cameroon between the military and armed separatists over the past thirteen months have forcibly displaced thousands, including across the border into Nigeria.

The humanitarian situation continues to deteriorate. And there are fears now that more people will become displaced over the coming months.

According to UN estimates more than 437,000 people are currently displaced in Cameroon, 246,000 of them in the Southwest Region, 105,000 in the Northwest Region, and 86,000 in the Littoral and West Regions.

Most of these are women and children. And people who become displaced face grave situations whether in Cameroon or Nigeria. Having fled with very little, they are arriving in impoverished host communities where food supplies are strained and with few facilities for health, education, water and sanitation.

As well as causing internal displacement in the Northwest and Southwest Regions of Cameroon, the deadly conflict has also forced over 35,000 Cameroonians to seek asylum in Nigeria. With the fighting continuing, this number is expected to rise. 

UNHCR now requires US$184 million for its operations in Cameroon and Nigeria – including US$35.4 million needed urgently for critical life-saving assistance.

In February, the Humanitarian Coordinator in Cameroon launched the 2019 Humanitarian Response Plan (HRP) that includes the situation in the South and North West regions. UNHCR activities and related funding requirements for this program in Cameroon are part of the HRP. UNHCR advocates for international support to the plan.

Inside Cameroon, many of the displaced in the Southwest and Northwest Regions are living in overcrowded conditions, without proper shelter or health and sanitation support.

Underfunding and insecurity have restricted protection and assistance activities to affected populations. The safety of women, children, unaccompanied and separated minors, people with disabilities, and lactating and pregnant women are of deep concern to us in light of increased protection incidents and the severe underfunding. The most frequently reported security incidents include destruction of homes and other domestic properties, extortion, torture and inhumane treatment including rape, sexual assault and sexual exploitation.

In Nigeria, refugees are currently being hosted in settlements, and more than 47 villages along the border. There is significant pressure on existing social services, and facilities for health and education. Refugees in settlements are depending on humanitarian assistance to meet their basic needs.

UNHCR

Following the recent visit of Tibor Nagy, the white house policy chief for African Affairs to Cameroon, the US government is now beefing up drastic measures against the Biya regime in Yaounde.

In a report drafted in Le monde newspaper, the Trump administration plans to take drastic financial sanctions against some 27 personalities of this regime who will be banned from staying on American soil or returning to it. This report opines that their assets will also be iced. The 27 Cameroonians to be penalized with these sanctions have their names already drafted by the US State Department.

Some European countries are flexing muscles to follow suit with similar measures under the diadem of the European Union. This will be a huge blow to the French government which has provided a safe haven for Biya and his cronnies in the last 57 years.

In pursuit of a lasting solution according to the report, western countries are drumming up for an inclusive dialogue to stop the ongoing Anglophone crisis that has left hundreds of thousands homeless’ more than 210 villages razed by French Cameroun soldiers and thousands massacred in the two English speaking regions of the country. Its concluding lines reads that a meeting could be organized to begin negotiations between the Yaoundé regime and the ‘secessionists’ on a neutral ground.

The FBI has joined the criminal investigation into the certification of the Boeing company’s 737 MAX as new details emerge from two deadly crashes in five months, according to US media reports.

The FBI will lend its considerable resources to an inquiry already being conducted by US Department of Transportation, the Seattle Times reported on Thursday.

The FBI and Boeing have not confirmed an investigation.

Criminal investigations into the US aviation industry, including federal oversight of airplane manufacturing and airline operations, are rare, the report said.

The federal investigation is being overseen by the US Justice Department’s criminal division and carried out by the Transportation Department’s Inspector General.

More than 300 Boeing 737 MAX planes have been grounded globally following a fatal plane crash in Ethiopia on March 10.

A 737 MAX passenger jet crashed five months earlier on October 29 into the Java Sea in Indonesia.

The Ethiopian Airlines and Lion Air crashes killed 346 people.

The crisis for the world’s largest aviation company is growing as the European Union and Canada said they would seek their own guarantees over the safety of the 737 MAX.

The Ethiopian Airlines crash that killed 157 people has sharpened focus on a new automated system in the MAX model that guides the nose lower to avoid stalling.

Boeing has halted deliveries of its best-selling model, one intended to be the industry standard but now under a shadow.

There were more than 300 MAX airplanes in operation worldwide at the time of the Ethiopian crash, and nearly 5,000 more on order. The list price for each plane is $121 million.

Norwegian Airlines has already said it will seek compensation after grounding its MAX aircraft, and various companies are re-considering orders.

Presstv

The U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs, Tibor Nagy, yesterday in Yaounde had a straight talk with the country’s president, Paul Biya, on the Southern Cameroons crisis which he qualified as “unnecessary”.

During the meeting with Mr. Biya, the American diplomat urged the president to embrace the frank and inclusive dialogue proposed by the international community, adding that Southern Cameroonians only wanted to be considered as normal citizens of Cameroon and that they would never accept the second-class citizenship the country had imposed on them.

He said that the US administration was closely watching events in Cameroon, pointing out that only dialogue could put an end to the crisis in the country. Mr. Nagy also stressed that the route taken by the government to end the crisis was unnecessary and that the loss of human life and property was a clear indication of a disproportionate use of force by the government.

Mr. Nagy also said America would encourage the country to pursue other forms of government that might reduce tensions in the country, adding that Donald Trump’s administration was ready and willing to lend a hand in the development of a truly federal system in Cameroon, a message that had also been sent to the Cameroon government by the Canadian embassy in Yaounde.

Canada, it should be underscored, has significant experience in the handling of minority issues and is very willing to bring that experience to Cameroon so as to enable the two linguistic groups that make up the country to live in peace.

Mr. Nagy used the occasion to remind Mr. Biya that Cameroon was a major American ally in the region, stressing that chaos in Cameroon could spill over to other countries and this could result in disorder that might disrupt life in the entire region.

He hailed Cameroon’s economic potential, adding that the country was blessed with abundant human and natural resources that could be used to bring about shared prosperity and wealth, but for this to happen, there must be peace and justice.

Speaking to journalists after his meeting with President Paul Biya, the American diplomat said diplomatic discussions were always confidential, but added that his discussion with Mr. Biya was frank and direct. A statement which has made sources close to the government to hold that Mr. Biya has been delivered a tough message which he has to take seriously or face destabilization from the frustrated American administration.

Mr. Nagy however said he appreciated Mr. Biya’s wisdom, adding that the United States and Cameroon had much in common and that he would like to bring many American investors to Cameroon so as to create opportunities for the country’s youths.

He said America wanted the best for Cameroon, stressing that he would like young Cameroonians to have the best jobs possible, but that would require peace in the country.

Asked about the statements he had made prior to his coming to Cameroon, Mr. Nagy said quotations could be interpreted in different ways and that he was happy the country’s press was still vibrant and that he was either an angel or a devil depending on the interpretation of his declarations.

It should be underscored that Mr. Nagy had made statements regarding the Southern Cameroons situation that cast the government of Cameroon in very bad light. He had called on the government to stop the killings, adding that only a global forum could definitively deal with the issue that was tearing the country apart.

The tough talking diplomat had struck fear in Yaounde and many government officials have been worried about America’s position regarding the Southern Cameroons crisis. Before arriving Cameroon, Mr. Nagy had said the Trump administration clearly felt that the Southern Cameroons crisis that had put the country in the spotlight for all the wrong reasons was an issue that required the international community’s attention as the government of Cameroon had clearly demonstrated that it was incapable of dealing with it using peaceful means..

Meanwhile, sources within Yaounde government say Mr. Nagy who had visited other African countries, was bearing a special message from many countries, including Canada and the United Kingdom who strongly believe that the Yaounde regime has crossed the red line.

“They are all scared of Americans. They know what America and its allies are capable of  doing. They know the American diplomat is carrying a message from different nations and if the Yaounde government does not change its approach to this conflict, it might incur the wrath of the US,” our sources said.

“We know what Americans are capable of doing. If the government decides to ignore American advice on this, it runs the risk of dealing with a larger crisis. Government officials are scared that America might arm Southern Cameroonian fighters who are still hunting rifles. If America comes to help Southern Cameroonians, their language might change from peaceful negotiation to regime change and this will imply more chaos and panic in the region,” our sources pointed out.

“It is not Mr. Nagy that is talking. It is Mr. Trump. President Biya knows that and he knows with more oil being discovered in the Southwest region, Americans might come in to get a fair share. The government will surely change its language and that will mean a return to normalcy in the two English-speaking regions of the country. But some hawks in the region are still beating the drums of war as they are making the most of the situation. Many of them have become rich overnight and would want the chaos to continue,” our sources said.

“Americans are not happy that an American missionary was killed in Bamenda as a result of this conflict. The message to Mr. Biya could be clear, but there are undertones which the government must seek to understand. Americans hardly forgive and they will surely want to take their revenge if the government does not listen. Americans are mad at the Yaounde government for the humiliation they have inflicted on the American ambassador after he advised Mr. Biya not to run in the last presidential election which he clearly lost,” our sources pointed out.

Meanwhile another source in Yaounde has indicated that there is panic in Yaounde and that Mr. Biya has urged his collaborators to change their language vis-à-vis Southern Cameroonians.

The source, which elected anonymity, said the American position regarding the conflict was being taken seriously as it has the backing of Canada and the United Kingdom.

While Mr. Nagy was in Yaounde, the government started speaking a different language. The first to set the tone was the country’s defense minister, Joseph Beti Assomo, a staunch supporter of war and a huge beneficiary of the chaos playing out in Southern Cameroons.

Mr. Assomo, on Monday, 18 March 2019, urged army soldiers to stop terrorizing civilians, a clear indication that the message from America and its allies had gone through.

Mr. Assomo who was in Buea to install some military officials; all of whom were from his region, advised soldiers to collaborate with the population with a view to normalizing things in the troubled region.

But Assomo’s message seems to be falling on deaf ears, as rampaging soldiers got to work in the northwest region on Tuesday, killing people, burning homes and bikes in Ndop. In other parts of the two English-speaking regions, soldiers are still intimidating civilians and this implies that the government is simply paying lip service to the notion of peace in the region.

By Kingsley Betek and Linda Embi in Yaounde

As the top U.S. diplomat for Africa visits Cameroon, pro-government groups are protesting what they call Tibor Nagy’s interference in Cameroon’s internal affairs.

U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs Nagy and the European Union representative Federica Mogherini recently called on Cameroon to free opposition leader Maurice Kamto and 150 of his supporters.

They also urged Cameroon authorities to work harder to stop the violence in its western, anglophone separatist regions.

The coordinator for Monday’s protest, Lilian Koulou Engoulou, said the demonstrators want Nagy to hear them and take their message back to Washington.

America should stop interfering in Cameroon’s internal issues, Engoulou said, and should help end the crisis in the English-speaking northwest and southwest regions by stopping Cameroonians based in the U.S. from funding what he calls terrorists and destabilizing Cameroon.

The last comment refers to separatist leaders based in the U.S. who have appealed on social media for contributions to help the fighters back home.

Communications Minister Rene Emmanuel Sadi, who has previously accused the U.S. of harboring separatist leaders, said last week that Cameroon was outraged by Nagy’s statements.

Aime Manga of Cameroon Rights Watch, a local group, said officials should take Nagy’s comments as helpful suggestions rather than criticism.

It is public knowledge that Cameroon has a serious political and social crisis, he said, and Nagy’s comments bring hope to many who want democracy.

Cameroon has detained Kamto and his supporters since January for taking part in anti-government demonstrations. They are being tried in military courts for charges that include rebellion and could face the death penalty.

In comments made days before his arrival Sunday in Yaounde, Nagy said it’s not always positive to arrest opposition members during times of crisis.

He also called the death and suffering in Cameroon’s rebellion heartbreaking and urged authorities to do more to end the fighting.

VOA