The government of Cameroon will soon be dealing with massive post-election demonstrations. The demonstrations are being planned for Sunday, October 22  and will last for weeks and months as an inside government source has informed Cameroon Concord News Group that the election results have already been approved by the Constitutional Council and all the drama in the name of hearings is just designed to calm down tempers and deceive the international community.

The source adds that Mr. Biya will be declared a winner on Sunday and there are plans to deploy troops and police in major cities across the country.  He stressed that a dusk to dawn curfew could be declared in many cities, including Yaounde where it is held that the opposition has a huge following.

As a prelude to what will happen, the government has been deploying troops at strategic locations in Yaounde and Douala, especially in neighborhoods that are mostly inhabited by Bamilekes and Anglophones. This action has been followed by random arrests to frighten any young men who have plans to take to the streets in the coming days.

The beleaguered government has also trained many spies who are serving as its eyes and ears among the population and these agents are spreading word that ordinary citizens should not express their views as they be could arrested.

“The government has created social media loops, another name for word of mouth transmission of information that discourages citizens from expressing themselves freely,” the source said.

In recent days, many government agents have been trying to dissuade young Bamileke businessmen from supporting the massive strikes and demonstrations that are in the offing on the grounds that they would be the losers as they own lots of business ventures across the country.

But their stories to dissuade the population are clearly falling on deaf ears. Cameroonians want real democracy in their country and they know that Mr. Biya is not the winner of the poll and that he is using fake institutions to extend his stay in power.

They want to get him out so that their country can make huge strides forward. Since taking over power in 1982, Mr. Biya has not posted any impressive economic and political results and has rigged every election to stay in power. The people are tired and they want to stage a revolution that will root him and his cohort of embezzlers out of power so as to give the country a new lease on life.

Meanwhile, the hearings at the Constitutional Council have continued today. The Constitutional Council president confirmed that unsigned results reports for 32 polling stations would not be cancelled and that these reports would hand Mr. Biya 1.3 million votes and certainly the victory he is looking for.

Over the last two weeks, the nation’s focus has been on Yaoundé following the holding of presidential elections wherein the incumbent, Paul Biya, is being suspected to have lost woefully. The suspected winner, Prof. Maurice Kamto, had declared that he had won; a day after polling and his announcement has sparked not just hope among his supporters, but fear within the ruling party.

Over the last two days, there have been hearings on post-election fraud, with the ruling party being the prime suspect. The hearings have attracted national and international attention, as Prof. Kamto’s legal team exposes the ruling party’s rigging strategy and tactics.

The rigging involved the Far North, Northwest, Southwest and South regions where opposition returning officers were chased away by ruling party officials.  In some ridings, ruling party officials signed on behalf of the opposition officials and in some cases the figures simply did not add up.

In the northwest and southwest regions where a violent and vicious war has been going on, soldiers had to vote as many times as they wanted on behalf of the ruling party as the violence had driven the population out of the regions. But from every indication, things seem to be looking up after two weeks of massive killings in the two English-speaking regions.

This has made many analysts to think that the situation might be improving, especially as many internally displaced people who had fled to East Cameroon are now returning to the English-speaking regions, as many of them suspect that if the elections are released in favor of the incumbent, there could be violence or even a civil war in East Cameroon.  Over the last two days, two caches of weapons have been found in Foumban and Bangante, two major cities in Prof. Kamto’s region of origin.

The fear of a civil war is all the more real as Prof. Kamto yesterday reiterated before the Constitutional Council that he was the winner of the October 7 poll and that the Constitutional Council should do the right thing to ensure the people’s will was respected to ensure the country is spared the type of Chaos that has been playing out in Southern Cameroons.

But the situation in Yaounde does not seem to be of any concern or interest to Southern Cameroonian fighters who hold that the elections are simply a distraction. They also hold that once the situation deteriorates, they will step up attacks against the forces of occupation and they will do everything to protect their territory by securing Southern Cameroonian borders.

According to an audio message sent to the Cameroon Concord News Group, Southern Cameroonian fighters are simply working hard to make their impact felt during this period of confusion in the country.

“We have seen that some forces of occupation are being withdrawn from our territory to help keep peace in their own country. We are aware that trouble is brewing in the neighboring country. We will not let that distract us,” the audio message said.

The speaker in the tape further adds that “we will do everything in our power to remain focused. We would not allow the enemy to drag us into his problems. We will be watching the enemy from a distance, as he proves to the world that he is incapable of ensuring peace in his country.”

“We are using this opportunity to urge our citizens to return home and to support the fighters to flush out the forces of occupation. We still have unfinished business and we have to turn the heat on the enemy,” the message underscores.

“We are happy to see them fight each other as this will weaken their grip on our territory. We are urging our citizens to steer clear of the situation in East Cameroon as it does not concern them,” the message concludes. Prof. Kamto has reassured Southern Cameroonians the once declared the winner of the presidential poll, he will engage in sincere and inclusive dialogue.

But his message does not seem to be music to many Southern Cameroonian ears, as many citizens from this region have made up their minds to walk a different path, though they support him in his fight to bring genuine democracy to his country.

Cameroon is certain to face some chaotic situations in the days ahead. The international community should help Cameroonians to bring genuine democracy to their country. Now is the time. If this does not happen the instability in Cameroon might destabilize the entire region.

By Kingsley Betek and Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai with files from Sama Ernest

Over the last two weeks, the nation’s focus has been on Yaounde following the holding of presidential elections wherein the incumbent, Paul Biya, is being suspected to have lost woefully.  The winner, Prof. Maurice Kamto, had declared that he had won; a day after polling and his announcement has sparked not just hope among his supporters, but fear within the ruling party.

Over the last two days, there have been hearings on post-election fraud, with the ruling party being the prime suspect. The hearings have attracted national and international attention, as Prof. Kamto’s legal team exposes the ruling party’s rigging strategy and tactics.

The rigging involved the Far North, Northwest, Southwest and South regions where opposition returning officers were chased away by ruling party officials.  In some ridings, ruling party officials signed on behalf of the opposition officials and in some cases the figures simply do not add up.

In the northwest and southwest regions where a violent and vicious war has been going on, soldiers had to vote as many times as they wanted on behalf of the ruling party as the violence had driven the population out of the regions. But from every indication, things seem to be looking up after two weeks of massive killing in the two English-speaking regions.

This has made many analysts to think that the situation might be improving, especially as many internally displaced people who had fled to East Cameroon are now returning to the English-speaking regions, as many of them suspect that if the elections are released in favor of the incumbent, there could be violence or even a civil war in East Cameroon.  Over the last two days, two caches of weapons have been found in Foumban and Bangante, two major cities in Prof. Kamto’s region of origin.

The fear of a civil war is all the more real as Kamto yesterday reiterated before the Constitutional Council that he was the winner of the October 7 poll and the Constitutional Council should do the right thing to ensure the people’s will is respected to ensure the country is spared the type of chaos that has been playing out in Southern Cameroons.

But the situation in Yaounde does not seem to be of any concern or interest to Southern Cameroonian fighters who hold that the elections are simply a distraction. They also hold that once the situation deteriorates, they will step up attacks against the forces of occupation and they will do everything to protect their territory by securing Southern Cameroonian borders.

According to an audio message sent to the Cameroon Concord News Group, Southern Cameroonian fighters are simply working hard to make their impact felt during this period of confusion in the country.

“We have seen that some forces of occupation are being withdrawn from our territory to help keep peace in their own country. We are aware that trouble is brewing in the neighboring country. We will not let that distract us,” the audio message says.

The speaker in the tape further adds that “we will do everything in our power to remain focused. We would not allow the enemy to drag us into its problems. We will be watching the enemy from a distance, as it proves to the world that it is incapable of ensuring peace in its country.”

“We are using this opportunity to urge our citizens to return home and to support the fighters to flush out the forces of occupation. We still have unfinished business and we have to turn the heat on the enemy,” the message underscores.

“We are happy to see them fight each other as this will weaken their grip on our territory. We are urging our citizens to steer clear of the situation in East Cameroon as it does not concern them,” the message concludes.

Prof. Kamto has reassured Southern Cameroonians that once declared the winner of the presidential poll, he will engage in a sincere and an inclusive dialogue.

But his message does not seem to be music to many Southern Cameroonian ears, as many citizens from this region have made up their minds to walk a different path, though they support him in his fight to bring genuine democracy to his country.

By Rita Akana and Kingsley Betek

The supposed winner of the October 7 presidential poll, Prof. Maurice Kamto, on Wednesday, October 17, 2018, made an impassioned appeal to members of the Constitutional Council for justice to be done in a hearing on post-electoral fraud in Cameroon.

Prof. Kamto, who had already declared himself the winner of the poll, said it was time for members of the Constitutional Council to understand that Cameroon needed to move away from the neo-colonial straight jacket that had been worn on the country for more than five decades.

The learned professor of law who spoke in the afternoon session of the hearing pointed out that Cameroon needed to change and he was prepared to be the flagbearer of that change given that the people had chosen him to lead the process in a poll that was marred by fraud and irregularities just to meet the needs of the incumbent.

He underscored that taking the right decision to grant the people’s wish would be the surest way to deliver the country’s youth from the damnation and hardship imposed on it by the regime of the out-going president, Paul Biya.

Prof. Kamto also pointed out the danger in not listening to the wishes of the people. He stressed that he would defend the mandate granted to him by the people and that the struggle would continue regardless of the outcome of the hearing.

He said he had been accused of arrogance and tribalism just to make him look bad. He charged that the whole notion of tribalism in the country was a government fabrication, adding that he would be the leader of all Cameroonians and would fight for the common man regardless of the person’s tribe.

He reiterated his commitment to solving the Southern Cameroons crisis, adding that a sincere and an inclusive dialogue would be the surest way to get the country out of the pretty mess in which it found itself.

He expressed surprise at the indifference displayed by the out-going president regarding the crisis in the two English-speaking regions of the country, adding that for Cameroon to be one and indivisible, a new and innovative approach to problem-solving needed to be adopted.  

Meanwhile, earlier in the day, Prof. Kamto’s team had produced more evidence to convince the Biya appointed Constitutional Council to understand that a decision other than the one that confirms the people’s choice might plunge the country into a spiral of violence and destruction.

The Kamto team, consisting of the country’s finest lawyers, proved that the country’s laws had been designed to favor a particular presidential candidate, as all their complaints before and during the presidential election had been clearly ignored by ELECAM, the country’s election-organizing body.

But the icing on the cake came when Barrister Felix Nkongho Agbor-Balla spoke to the Constitutional Council, urging its members to listen to the people’s wishes and aspirations, as there could be consequences that might come with lots of regrets.

He called on the Constitutional Council to understand that when the people do not get listened to, there will always be adverse consequences. He recalled that since the government failed to listen to Southern Cameroonians lawyers and teachers in October 2016, the country has been going through a tough time and that the fear of a separation was real.

He underscored the point that no law or ordinance could be mightier than the will of the people. He recognized the capabilities of the members of the constitutional Council, urging them to prove that the country was bigger than any individual.

He pointed out that many leaders would come and go, but Cameroon will always be around and it will be prudent and wise for the Constitutional Council to take a decision that would give members of that august body an enviable place in the country’s history.

Another brilliant barrister who distinguished himself as a legal force to reckon was Barrister Ikome Mbella of the Southwest region who drew the Constitutional Council’s attention to the tragedy unfolding in the two English-speaking regions.  He advised Constitutional Council members to do justice to the people of Cameroon to prevent the country from being caught in the throes of chaos that might destroy and interrupt lives.

Other lawyers weighed in on the matter, urging the Constitutional Council member to do the right thing. Some advised them to understand that though they had been appointed by the country’s President, Paul Biya, they still had the right and obligation to exercise their right to apply the law as expected by the people of Cameroon.

It should be recalled that the Constitutional Council had been created by Mr. Biya and all its members are supporters of the ruling CPDM. The wife of the president of the Constitutional Council, Clement Atangana, is a CPDM parliamentarian, the wife of Mr. Fouman Akame is also a CPDM parliamentarian, and Professor Joseph Marie Bipoum Woum was a minister under President Paul Biya and chairman of the board of directors of several state-owned corporations.

For her part, Justice Florence Arrey, another member of the Constitutional Council, is the recognized long-term girlfriend of the country’s current justice minister, Laurent Esso, and the two have a couple of children from a relationship that has lasted decades. Laurent Esso, it should be underscored is President Paul Biya’s closest collaborators and he played a significant role in the establishment of the Constitutional Council and the appointment of its members.

This therefore compels many Cameroonians to think that the hearing at the Constitutional Council is indeed an exercise in futility as all members of the Constitutional Council are related to the ruling part and have all been compromised.

Prof. Kamto’s impassioned address might fall on deaf ears, but its impact will linger for a long time. The outcome of the hearing may already be known, but the people’s reaction is what is keeping the government awake all night, especially as the learned professor keeps on underscoring that he would defend the mandate conferred on him by the people of Cameroon at all cost.

By Kingsley Betek and Sama Ernest in Yaounde

Cameroon is moving slowly but surely into the abyss of civil war with troops loyal to the Biya Francophone regime attacking leaders and militants of the opposition over the October 7 controversial presidential election.

The Sub Saharan nation is already in a civil war situation, according to the leader of the MRC party, Prof Maurice Kamto who reportedly won the disputed polls. The Kamto Campaign observed that more than 4000 Southern Cameroonians have been killed and approximately 2,000 wounded by gunfire since the crisis in the English speaking regions started three years ago.

With the political crisis apparently set to deepen following a Constitutional Council decision to throw out Kamto Campaign’s application for recusal, the US government recently sounded a note of caution to the 35 year old Biya regime, urging the electoral commission to respect the will of the Cameroonian people. The United States called upon Cameroon election body to urgently release election results to avoid suspicion of cooking the outcome.

Cameroon held elections on the of 7th October, but up until 17^th of October, the Elections Cameroon (ELECAM) was yet to finalise announcement of election outcome raising great suspicion President Paul Biya’s governing Cameroon People’s Democratic Movement (CPDM) were working with the election body to cook the election results.

The 85 year old dictator came to power in 1982 and is defying pressure to step down. Members of his ruling tribal political structure have warned Prof Maurice Kamto the internationally recognised election winner, and his supporters to leave the nation’s capital Yaounde.

The regime in Yaounde has placed Kamto in some form of house arrest and the man widely believed to have won the October 7 polls was recently prevented from holding a press conference and many members of his campaign have been arrested on widely discredited claims that he declared himself winner.

The UN secretary general, Antonio Gutteres has been maintaining a kind of deliberate silence on the happenings in Cameroon.  With the genocide currently going on in Southern Cameroons, there are fears that any attack on citizens from the Bamilekes extraction who are massively behind Kamto could provoke widespread violence that could reignite civil war.

Cameroon government spies are currently standing outside Prof. Kamto’s residence and at his political headquarters disguised as news reporters or motorcycle taxi drivers. The Biya spies have been following everyone in the Kamto coalition in Douala, Yaounde and Bafoussam.

There are widespread complaints of police disrupting or shutting down meetings involving the Maurice Kamto Campaign. Recently, Senior Divisional Officers have started demanding that press conferences and political meetings should be banned. The UN was yet to comment on the disputed vote. By some strange happenstance,

World leaders have also turned a blind eye on the atrocities being committed by Francophone soldiers loyal to the regime in Yaoundé.  The UN representatives and the International Crisis Group in the Sub Saharan region have voiced alarm that hundreds of Southern Cameroonians have been rounded up, with some being held incommunicado and facing the risk of torture. The UN has also been denied access to the Southern Cameroons territory.

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai

The United States has called upon Cameroon election body to urgently release election results to avoid suspicion of cooking the outcome.

The US argues for Cameroon’s elections to be free, fair and credible, the central African country should immediately announce all outstanding results.

Cameroon held elections on 7th October, but up until 16th October, the Elections Cameroon (ELECAM) was yet to finalise announcement of election outcome raising great suspicion President Paul Biya’s governing Cameroon People’s Democratic Movement (CPDM) were nicodemously working with the election body to cook the election results.

Already opposition leader Maurice Kamto of the Cameroon Renaissance Movement argued he won the polls before challenging the incumbent to hand over power to him.

“I call on President Paul Biya to ensure a peaceful transition and avoid situations that may be ugly for Cameroon,” Kamto said

On Monday, the US said it would continue playing a neutral role but urged the Cameroon election body to release the election results.

“We encourage Elections Cameroon (ELECAM) and the Constitutional Council to release results polling site by polling site to enhance transparency and citizens’ confidence in the outcome. Any disputes should be resolved peacefully and through established legal channels. The United States remains a committed partner on electoral, political, economic, and human rights reforms in Cameroon,” said the US.

The US also called for calm and peace in the country as it waits election body to exercise non-partisans conclusion of the remaining phases of the vote tabulation process.

“We appeal to all Cameroonians to exercise patience and avoid hate speech,” the US said.

Source:  CAJ News

Cameroon’s Constitutional Council that started hearing applications from opposition parties on election malpractice and irregularities today has rejected Professor Kamto’s request for recusal of Constitutional Council members on the basis that he did not have the capacity to raise the incompatibility of the members of the Constitutional Council. It was however said he could challenge the incompatibility of the person who appointed Council members and the person in question is President Paul Biya who himself was also a candidate in the October 7 presidential poll.

Knowing well that the outcome of the application could not be otherwise, Maurice Kamto felt it was necessary for him to follow the legal procedure as the best way to expose the Biya regime to the international community as being the judge and jury in a case on the country’s future and stability depend.

The debates are continuing, but what happened today during the hearing was just a foretaste of what will be playing out in the days ahead. In opening statements by Prof. Kamto’s legal team, the various lawyers called on the chair of the constitutional council to exercise justice, reminding him that the future of the country depended on whatever decision the Constitutional Council would take.

First to fire was Barrister Yondo Black who pointed out that all the members of the constitutional council were also members of the ruling party whose role in the just-ended election had been called to question. He added that the person who appointed them was himself a candidate in the election and it would be challenging to accept that the Constitutional council would be impartial in a case in which members of the constitutional council stood to gain.

For his part, Barrister Akere Muna added that Cameroon had never known a smooth transition as the country switched from a single party state to a single party democracy wherein the ruling party was in control of everything. He urged the President of the Constitutional Council to exercise sound judgement in taking a decision that could make or mar the peace of the country.

Other lawyers also pointed out the inconsistencies and the conflict of interest that would make it hard for the Constitutional Council members to be impartial. It should be recalled that the wife of the president of the constitutional council is a ruling party parliamentarian and the president of the constitutional council is still working as a lawyer and defending state interest with the latest situation taking place on September 30, 2018.

They also pointed out that various members of the constitutional council were either members of the central committee of the ruling party or had been appointed to serve as chairmen of the boards of directors of various state-owned corporation; a situation that made it hard for them to be impartial in addressing the post-electoral conflict in Cameroon.

With the application for recusal rejected, the debates on the various electoral irregularities will therefore continue and Cameroonians are looking forward to justice although many argue the outcome of the hearing is already known. With a Constitutional Council set up by Mr. Biya and comprising mainly members of his party, it is clear that many of the complaint on electoral fraud will be thrown out to give the incumbent another 7-year term.

Meanwhile, as the political crisis in Yaounde continues, the country has continued with its descent to chaos. In the English-speaking region of the country, the killings have continued and soldiers loyal to Mr. Biya are continuing with their rampage. They have shooting carelessly in major cities in the region and this has led to the death of many young men.

Cameroon’s downward spiral seems to be unstoppable. As the political situation continues to decline due to the presidential election, some people are secretly amassing weapons in preparation for a battle that might plunge the entire sub-region into chaos.

A cache of weapons was found yesterday on a bus heading to Foumban from Yaoundé. The bus company is known as “Super Confort” in French but, yesterday, the bus’ contents were something that could not provide any comfort to the country’s military.

It is interesting to know that arms are instead coming from the nation’s capital to the west. All the passengers on the bus had been detained at the Foumban police station yesterday, pending an investigation. All passengers on board had denied ownership or knowledge of the origin of the arms and this was indeed a cause for concern to the police who have been victims of firearms in Southern Cameroons.

Cameroon is currently awash with weapons ever since the government declared war on the English-speaking minority.  Presently there is a lot of killing going on in Southern Cameroons, especially by a Beti Mafia unleashed by the defense minister, Joseph Beti Assomo, who is the architect of the military violence.

The violence was stepped up two weeks prior to the presidential election that is causing more tension in the country. The country’s presidential election is splitting the Francophone majority, with the Betis holding that power belongs to them and that it will be an aberration for Bamilekes to take over from the incumbent, Paul Biya, a native Beti himself.

From results obtained by Cameroon Concord News Group, it is clear that Prof. Kamto has won the election and since declaring himself president, the government has been arresting his party members and stationing troops around his house.

Prof. Kamto has promised that he would defend the mandate the people have conferred on him and that he would stop at nothing to ensure that the people’s wish is respected.

A view reiterated yesterday by his campaign director, Paul Eric Kingue, during a live broadcast on Facebook. He challenged the territorial administration minister, Paul Atanga Nji, advising him that no intimidation would stop the people from realizing their objective.

It should be recalled that the country’s presidential poll has been marred by many irregularities and some opposition parties have already taken up the matter with the appropriate authorities while other parties have simply called for a cancellation of the poll.

The results of the poll will be made public on October 22, and opposition parties are calling on their supporters to pour onto the streets if the Constitutional Council hands the victory to Mr. Biya who did not even campaign due to age and illness.

Mr. Biya has been in power for 36 years and has nothing to show for his time in power. The country is bereft of roads and its hospitals have been reduced to consultation clinics. The country has no reliable infrastructure and roads accidents in the country are amongst the highest in the world.

Unemployment has reached alarming rates and many Cameroonians are looking outwards for opportunities.  If Mr. Biya wins, he will be ruling the country for another seven years and this implies the conflict in the two English-speaking regions will continue as he is in no mood to dialogue with the separatists.

Over the last years, the world has been calling for an inclusive dialogue but all the calls have fallen on deaf ears. Some 4,000 Cameroonians have lost their lives, including over 1,000 army soldiers as a result of the conflict, while more than a million people have been displaced both internally and externally. About half a million English-speaking Cameroonians are currently seeking refuge in Nigeria.

For those internally displaced, they are mostly in East Cameroon, but with the tension  rising in East Cameroon following the presidential poll, most of those who sought refuge in major East Cameroonians cities are already heading back home to avoid any confrontation that might occur after October 22.

Cameroon is on the brink. The world might be ignoring a situation that could complicate things on the continent. With Boko Haram still an active threat in the North and Southern Cameroons separatists giving the government a run for its money, it is clear that the country might implode if the political crisis borne out of the October 7 poll is not addressed very fast.

By Kingsley Betek, Sama Ernest and Rita Akana in Yaounde 

A cache of weapons has been caught in Foumban on a bus coming from Yaoundé. The bus company is known as Super Confort in French but, yesterday, the bus’ contents were something that could not provide any comfort to the country’s military.

It is interesting to know that arms are instead coming from the nation’s capital to the west. All the passengers on the bus are currently being held in the Foumban police station, pending an investigation, as all passengers have denied ownership or knowledge of the origin of the arms.

Cameroon is currently awash with weapons ever since the government declared war on the English-speaking minority.  Presently there is a lot of killing going on in Southern Cameroons, especially by a Beti Mafia unleashed by the defense minister, Joseph Beti Assomo, who is the architect of the military violence.

The violence was stepped up two weeks prior to the presidential election that is causing more tension in the country. The country’s presidential election is splitting the Francophone majority, with the Betis holding that power belongs to them and that it will be an aberration for Bamilekes to take over from the incumbent, Paul Biya, a native Beti himself.

From results obtained by Cameroon Concord News Group, it is clear that Prof. Kamto has won the election and since declaring himself president, the government has been arresting his party members and stationing troops around his house.

Prof. Kamto has promised that he would defend the mandate the people have conferred on him and that he would stop at nothing to ensure that the people’s wish is respected.

A view reiterated yesterday by his campaign director, Paul Eric Kingue, during a live broadcast on Facebook. He challenged the territorial administration minister, Paul Atanga Nji, advising him that no intimidation would stop the people from realizing their objective.

It should be recalled that the country’s presidential poll has been marred by many irregularities and some opposition parties have already taken up the matter with the appropriate authorities while other parties have simply called for a cancellation of the poll.

The results of the poll will be made public on October 22, and opposition parties are calling on their supporters to pour onto the streets if the Constitutional Council hands the victory to Mr. Biya who did not even campaign due to age and illness.

Mr. Biya has been in power for 36 years and has nothing to show for his time in power. The country is bereft of roads and its hospitals have been reduced to consultation clinics. The country has no reliable infrastructure and roads accidents in the country are amongst the highest in the world.

Unemployment has reached alarming rates and many Cameroonians are looking outwards for opportunities.  If Mr. Biya wins, he will be ruling the country for another seven years and this implies the conflict in the two English-speaking regions will continue as he is in no mood to dialogue with the separatists.

Over the last years, the world has been calling for an inclusive dialogue but all the calls have fallen on deaf ears. Some 4,000 Cameroonians have lost their lives as a result of the conflict, while more than a million have been displaced both internally and externally. Some half a million English-speaking Cameroonians are currently seeking refuge in Nigeria.

For those internally displaced, they are mostly in East Cameroon, but with the tension  rising in East Cameroon following the presidential poll, most of those who sought refuge are already heading back home to avoid any confrontation that might occur after October 22.

By Kingskey Betek

According to a leaked Cameroon government document, CPDM barons are planning to strictly control the activities of Prof Maurice Kamto, the man widely believed to have won the October 7 presidential elections including members of his coalition.  The ruling Beti-Ewondo elites are also aiming to further militarise the nation’s capital before the official proclamation of the results.

Meanwhile, leading members of the Francophone dominated Cameroon opposition and civil society groups this week hinted Cameroon Concord News Group about widespread surveillance and intimidation tactics being used against Southern Cameroonians and people from the Western region which is the political base of the President-Elect, Maurice Kamto.

The internal memo, written by the Delegate-General for National Security, Martin Mbarga Nguele was leaked late this evening to our chief intelligence officer in Yaoundé and outlined plans for more than 300 officers to provide what the Biya regime intends to paint as a “protective custody” on Maurice Kamto, leader of the MRC party.

Prof Kamto was recently prevented from holding a press conference and many members of his campaign have been arrested on widely discredited claims that he declared himself winner of the October 7 presidential election.

While mainly detailing measures and tricks and action planned by the Biya regime to link the Kamto Campaign to terrorism, crime and social chaos, the document also mentions broader plans to crush the Southern Cameroons resistance.

The Francophone authorities are to strictly control activities of Bamilekes and Anglophone civil society organizations, Anglophone and Bamileke unions, Nigerians, former Anglophone military officers and the members of the Interim Government of the Federal Republic of Ambazonia, it read.

The document comes to light after the Maurice Kamto coalition won the presidential elections. The vote has been widely criticised as flawed. The ballot took place following a more than two years of intensified repression of Southern Cameroonians, Biya regime critics and independent media that has seen some 4000 Southern Cameroonians killed, several hundred  jailed and some 50,000 living in refugees camps in neighboring Nigeria.  There has since been an escalation in the surveillance of opposition groups and critics of the regime, sources said.

Cameroon government spies are currently standing outside Prof. Kamto’s residence and at his political headquarters disguised as news reporters or motorcycle taxi drivers. The Biya spies have been following everyone in the Kamto coalition in Douala, Yaounde and Bafoussam.

There are widespread complaints of police disrupting or shutting down meetings involving the Maurice Kamto Campaign. Recently, Senior Divisional Officers have started demanding that press conferences and political meetings should be banned.

A source, who requested anonymity for fear of reprisals, told this reporter that they had heard from sources in Cameroon’s secret service that a meeting had been pencilled in for the end of this week to draw up a list of top Bamilekes to be monitored by the regime.  The Betis have recruited many social media gurus to help in the fight to guarantee Biya’s continued stay in power.

The CPDM regime is mixing traditional techniques such as physical surveillance and intimidation with modern approaches including the use of digital tools in CAMTEL, the Ministry of Post and Telecom and the judicial system to silence Kamto and his coalition and by extrapolation, the Cameroonian people. Any hopes that space for critical voices would re-emerge after the October 7th election had been quashed.

The constant monitoring, intimidation and harassment of religious leaders and the corresponding lack of transparency and accountability when it comes to attacks against opposition figures has created an atmosphere of fear and insecurity.

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai

Outgoing U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Nikki Haley criticized the U.N. Friday after its General Assembly elected new members to the controversial Human Rights Council — including countries with poor human rights records.

The 18 new members were selected from five regional blocs of countries, and their elections were largely predetermined since they were not challenged by other countries.

While other countries with stronger human rights records were voted in — such as Argentina, Czech Republic and Denmark — the addition of those with poor records was cited as evidence by Haley that the U.S. was right to withdraw from the body earlier this year.

“Today, the U.N. chose new members for the Human Rights Council. Yet again, countries with poor human rights records ran uncontested. This lack of standards continues to undermine the organization and demonstrates again why the United States was right to withdraw from it earlier this year,” she said in a statement.

‘This lack of standards continues to undermine the organization and demonstrates again why the United States was right to withdraw from it earlier this year.’

— U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Nikki Haley

“The United States will continue to support reforms that would make the Human Rights Council credible. More importantly, the United States will continue to be the world’s human rights leader regardless of the suspect composition and poor decisions of the Human Rights Council,” Haley, who is stepping down from her role in January, added.

Haley urged the body to reform in a speech in Geneva in 2017 focusing on its anti-Israel bias and also its membership — which she said led to human rights abusers being protected on the council.

“For too long the human rights council has been a protector of human rights abusers and a cesspool of political bias,” she said in June of this year, announcing the United States’ departure.

The elections had been criticized by a host of other human rights groups as well. Ahead of the vote, Human Rights Watch said the election risks undermining the council’s effectiveness and credibility.

“UN member countries should show their outrage at the Philippines and Eritrea by leaving two spots on the ballot sheet blank and keeping them off the council,” said Louis Charbonneau, U.N. director at Human Rights Watch. “Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte’s abusive ‘war on drugs’ has been a killing frenzy that has left thousands dead. In Eritrea, the authorities persecute and jail government critics and force citizens into indefinite national service.”

Eritrea has been widely condemned as one of the most repressive countries in the world. A report to the Human Rights Council last year by a U.N. special rapporteur condemned Eritrea for its “indefinite length of conscription” and said that the government had “an ongoing unwillingness to meet its obligations and commitments under regional and international human rights instruments.”

Matthew Lee, a U.N. journalist who runs the Inner City Press blog and has focused on alleged human rights abuses in Cameroon, told Fox News that Cameroon’s elevation to the Council was “an outrage.”

“Only this year the government of 36-year ruler Paul Biya has been found burning villages in the Anglophone areas of the country, disappearing political opponents, and summarily executing women and children, on film,” he said.

The new members will take their seats at the council in January. One of the body’s more controversial members, Venezuela, will be replaced after serving two terms on the council.

Farhan Haq, a spokesman for U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, said that the matter was a question for the member states themselves.

“Ultimately we don’t evaluate or second guess the decisions made by member states,” he said. “They are the ones who chose to run people for these seats and their the governments who vote for them.”

Culled from Fox News

Cameroon held presidential elections on Sunday, and although an opposition leader has claimed victory, official results have yet to be released. Social media is abuzz with unverified election results, many of which proclaim various opposition leaders as the winners of the elections.

Furthermore, at least two presidential candidates have submitted petitions for partial or total cancellation of the elections to the Constitution Council (within the 72 hours following the close of the poll, as stipulated in the electoral code), reporting electoral irregularities.

But how surprised and concerned should Cameroonians and the international community actually be about what’s happened since Sunday’s election? I asked Cameroonian political science professor Landry Signé to help make sense of what just happened in the nation’s elections. Here’s what you need to know:

Kim Yi Dionne: Analysts expect President Paul Biya (of the ruling CPDM party) to win reelection for his seventh term in office. Still, Cameroon Renaissance Movement party candidate Maurice Kamto proclaimed Monday to have won the election. What should we know about Kamto’s claim?

Landry Signé: First, even some voices from Kamto’s coalition believe Biya to have received more votes than Kamto. Second, in addition to the government, other key opposition parties have condemned Kamto’s proclamation — largely because it is prohibited to self-proclaim results. Finally, we might interpret Kamto’s action as a strategy to gain more international attention, put pressure on the incumbent and gain more legitimacy nationally in order to be perceived as the main voice of the opposition — and the most credible alternative to President Biya.

K.Y.D.: Even setting Kamto’s claim aside, should there be concern about the fact that it’s been five days since the polls closed and the elections board still hasn’t released the results?

L.S.: Electoral law in Cameroon actually gives the institutions in charge of elections up to 15 days to announce the results. Even if this period seems long, it is consistent with previous elections and the rules regulating electoral administration in Cameroon. This period cannot be circumvented except through legal proceedings that would have had to occur before the election.

K.Y.D.: But there have been reports of election irregularities in the elections, right?

L.S.: Yes, observers noted there was unbalanced media coverage of candidates (Biya received three times more coverage than any other presidential candidate), issues with voters having the resources they need to cast their votes, and there were allegations of interference with the electoral process on Election Day. But this is not surprising: Cameroon has a long history of imperfect elections, and it is difficult to change old habits.

To be sure, I’m not saying the instigators of irregularities should get a pass, but the extent of incidents is not significant enough to affect the final outcome. Even without these irregularities, Biya would still win.

K.Y.D.: Why do you think Biya would still win?

L.S.: This is largely explained by a very good but divided opposition. With so many good candidates this year, they have managed to divide the popular vote.

In addition, an area where Biya would have received the least support had very low turnout. Voter turnout in the Anglophone regions was quite low, given a separatist crisis. Separatists in the northwest and southwest regions clashed with state forces in the period leading up to the election and on Election Day, causing many to avoid going out to vote.

Even without a divided opposition and without the separatist crisis, an opposition victory would have still been unlikely. Only 50 percent of eligible Cameroonians registered to vote, and registered voters tend to be pro-CPDM (the ruling party). Furthermore, CPDM’s resources and organizational capabilities are unmatched.

K.Y.D.: I know it’s still early, but does this election leave you resigned or hopeful?

L.S.: I’m actually optimistic about Cameroon’s democratic future. The number of good opposition candidates, the realization of the importance of registering and voting, as well as the current debate on policy options that each candidate has to create a better future for Cameroonians, are giving hope that a transition may be less far off than we think and may possibly happen at the ballot box. There are also emerging voices within CPDM that are advocating for the renewal of the political elite through democratic means. But, if there is really an interest in seriously challenging the CPDM, the opposition will have to come together to mount a successful challenge.

Culled from Washington Post