Lawyers in Cameroon defending leaders of a movement to create a separate state of Ambazonia have called on the government to produce evidence that their clients are still alive. Many English-speaking people complain of being treated like second-class citizens in Cameroon. Barrister Christopher Ndong was representing his clients at a hearing at the Yaounde Appeals Court.

For the fifth time, secessionist leader Sissiku Ayuk Tabe and his fellow defendants were not present in court, despite a court order saying they should be there. “We have fears that if they cannot be brought even at the level of the court of appeal, then there is something wrong,” Mr Ndong told the BBC.

The next hearing comes up on 1 November and the lawyer said if the defendants are not physically present, then the government “should present certificates of life to show that they are alive”.

Sisiku Julius Ayuk and 46 others were arrested January in Nigeria and extradited to Cameroon. Government spokesman Issa Tchiroma Bakary has said the separatists will answer for their alleged crimes.

Sisiku Julius Ayuk was the president of the Governing Council of Ambazonia, a group that works for the secession of Cameroon’s English-speaking regions of Cameroon from the rest of the country. Cameroon’s English speakers say they have been marginalised for decades by the predominantly Francophone government. BBC News

Source: Nehandaradio

Cameroon is the great unspoken African tragedy-in-the-making. Its president, Paul Biya, has been in power since 1982. If ever a country needed presidential term limits it is this one. Mr Biya is now the second longest serving non-monarchic head of state in the world. If, as expected, he manoeuvres his way through ongoing post-election turmoil to secure another seven-year stint, he will be 92 by the time the next polls fall due, just one year younger than Robert Mugabe when he was overthrown last year.

The abuses that Mr Biya has presided over are less publicised than Mr Mugabe’s. But he is no less ruthless a despot. When he first became head of state, his country had a highly educated population and diversified economy every bit as promising as Zimbabwe’s once was. His rule has been a slow-burning disaster ever since, characterised by grand-scale corruption, political repression and growing division. With every passing year, the likelihood of a tragic denouement to his presidency has risen.

Last Sunday’s elections took place to a backdrop of simmering conflict in the north of the country, where the army is fighting Islamist militants from the Boko Haram cult. In the north-west and south-west of the country, separatists from the English-speaking minority are waging a guerrilla war. These upheavals should be gaining far more attention — both on the continent and further afield. The unravelling of this religiously divided and multi-ethnic country has the potential to destabilise swaths of central and west Africa — it is the bridge between the two. The unleashing of the country’s enormous economic potential, would, by contrast, provide a boon to the whole region. Yet, there has been a near complete absence of international engagement. Rather than leveraging their influence to nudge Mr Biya to the door, successive French governments have served as his protector. If this was short-sighted a quarter century ago, when the seeds of today’s crisis were sown, it is even more so now.

Last Sunday’s election might have offered that chance for political renewal. Instead, the outcome looks likely to further polarise the country. Cameroon has been divided along linguistic lines since 1961 when colonial-era French and British-administered territories were brought together in a federation after a referendum. The unification of the two parts in a hyper-centralised state 11 years later has been a bone of contention for anglophones, who make up a fifth of the population, ever since. Their frustrations boiled over two years ago due to perceived attempts to impose the French language in courts and schools.

Rather than seek to defuse the resulting uprising with dialogue, Mr Biya has chosen to put it down with force. Predictably, the crisis has intensified as a result. Hundreds of villagers have been killed in a scorched-earth campaign by the army, hundreds of thousands have been displaced, and the separatists have become more determined still. Two opposition candidates who challenged Mr Biya at the polls have declared victory before official results have been released. But government skulduggery and the fragmentation of opposition votes, make it likely that Mr Biya will emerge again on top. France should take a lead in galvanising European and African countries to pressurise his government into initiating dialogue. Cameroon’s English-speakers have genuine grievances that need urgently to be addressed — ideally in a wide-ranging national debate. But Cameroonians of all origins have grievances too. The time to forestall a wider revolt is running out.

Culled from The Financial Times Limited

It is gradually emerging that Prof. Kamto is the true winner of Sunday’s presidential election.

An unimpeachable source at the election-organizing body, ELECAM, who has elected anonymity, has just sent the results to the Cameroon Concord News Group.  The source says that ELECAM officials are divided on how to proceed.

Some want the results to be doctored while others argue that the real results should be published as received.

There is confusion going on at ELECAM as government ministers keep on calling the election body.

See below full results as received and compiled by ELECAM.

Statistics and vote percentages across the 10 regions:

.1- ADAMAWA Region

-Maurice Kamto 54%

-Paul Biya 23%

Joshua Osih 10%

2- CENTER Region

-Paul Biya 41%

-Maurice Kamto 38%

-Joshua Osih 12%

3- EAST Region

-Maurice Kamto 46%

-Paul Biya 31%

-Joshua Osih 20%

4- FAR NORTH Region

-Maurice Kamto 55%

-Joshua Osih 27%

-Paul Biya 9%

5- LITTORAL Region

-Maurice Kamto 39%

-Joshua Osih 33%

-Cabral Libih 19%

6- NORTH WEST Region

-Joshua Osih 37%

-Maurice Kamto 34%

-Akere Muna 17%

7- NORTH Region

-Maurice Kamto 44%

-Joshua Osih 25%

-Paul Biya 18%

8- WEST Region

Marice Kamto 59%

Paul Biya 19%

Joshua Osih 15%

9-SOUTH Region

Paul Biya 51%

Maurice Kamto 27%

Cabral Libii 10%

10-SOUTH WEST Region

-Joshua Osih 37%

-Maurice Kamto 32%

-Akere Muna 12%

Transparency International has disowned a report broadcast on Cameroon’s national television that said it’s observatory team monitoring presidential elections had approved the management of the electoral process.

In a statement issued on Tuesday, the global anti-corruption body said it had not deployed an election observer mission in Cameroon. It described the television report by Cameroon TV as ‘false and untrue’.

“The individuals shown in the report have no affiliation with Transparency International,” said Patricia Moreira, Managing Director of Transparency International.

In the report broadcast on Monday, the purported observers described the October 7 election as ‘credible, fair and sincere’.

‘‘Everybody did their job. They took it very seriously. The election management process was extremely good,’‘ said one of the observers, Nurit Greenger, who is reportedly from the United States.

Transparency International, which has a chapter in Cameroon, said it had ‘established a reporting mechanism to be sued by the general public to report possible irregularities’.

‘‘At this critical time for democracy in Cameroon, Transparency International…urges all parties in politics and media to act responsibly and with integrity in their communications around the election and its results,’‘ concluded the statement.

Source: Africa News

Cameroon radio and television, CRTV, the state broadcaster has been exposed by international rights group Transparency International, TI, over a report that the group’s observer team had ‘blessed’ the conduct of the October 7 presidential polls.

CRTV shared a video that purported to have observers with TI but the group in a press statement said it had not sent a team to observe the polls.  CRTV like Cameroon Tribune are used to perpetrate crimes against Southern Cameroonians far worse than the holocaust.  They are instruments of mass mobilization through falsehood, corruption of the popular conscience and the deification of the 85 year old dictator who has finally destroyed the tribal tolerance miraculously put in place by the late President Ahidjo. CRTV was and is the conduit through which egregious violations and crimes of unimaginable magnitude are perpetrated against British Southern Cameroonians.

It is the conduit through which fraud is celebrated and the flames of the North West/ South West divide are fanned.  It remains the voice of hate, sycophancy and intimidation. The question one may ask, is, who benefits from these crimes? The answer points to Paul Biya.

“Transparency International confirms that it has no international election observation mission in Cameroon. A recent television report featuring individuals described as working for Transparency International is false and untrue,” a statement read.

It is the most significant development surrounding the polls since opposition candidate Maurice Kamto declared that he had won a clear mandate from the people.

The former Biya minister had been dismissed by the government describing his move as irresponsible and illegal. Kamto’s coalition ally, Akere Muna, is a former TI top official. He resigned to contest the presidential polls but entered an alliance with Kamto less than 24-hours to the vote.

Voting closed in Cameroon in Sunday evening and counting of ballots started in earnest. Main opposition Social Democratic Front, SDF, vowed to police the counting and results declaration process.

But it is the declaration of victory by Maurice Kamto, a former Biya minister that has thrown the process into a state of shock. Kamto who led a two-party alliance involving famed lawyer Akere Muna said the goal of his party had been reached.

A summary of the issues he raised in his victory speech is as follows: Cameroonians have chosen to go down a historic path by voting out the incumbent. He has won a clear mandate and he is ready to defend firmly. Called on Paul Biya to make transition arrangement to avert needless post-poll crisis. His supporters can remain joyful and proud of the achievement.

The government reacted to the development with a series of controversial press conferences in Yaounde alluding to  electoral laws which suggest that it is an offence to declare oneself winner of the elections. A point that had been stressed by government in the run up to the vote.

A section of the Electoral System stipulates that the President of the Republic is elected for a seven-year term by universal suffrage and by direct, equal and secret ballot.

According to the Cameroon electoral code, the president is elected by a single-round majority ballot and the candidate having obtained the majority of the votes cast shall be declared elected.

It also states that election will not be complete until Cameroon’s Supreme Court rules on requests for annulment and announces the results.

Cameroonians voted on Sunday (October 7) in a key presidential election which could end or extend the 36-year rule of President Paul Biya, one of Africa’s longest serving leaders.

Reuters and CAMCORDNEWS

As the dust raised by Prof. Kamto’s announcement about his victory in the October 7 presidential poll settles, it is slowly emerging that the country’s president, Paul Biya, is slowly showing some signs of flexibility about his retirement.

A source close to the Yaounde strong man has hinted Cameroon Concord News Group that international pressure on the 86 year-old dictator for him to accept the honorable exit proposed by Prof. Kamto has increased over the last two days following the historic announcement that might change the country’s history.

America and other Western countries, excluding France, are working hard to ensure that real political alternation is a reality in a country that has known only two presidents since independence in 1960. Western countries want to ensure that Cameroon is spared a disaster that many other African countries have experienced.

The negotiators are drawing Mr. Biya’s attention to the fact that if he refused to accept the verdict of the ballot boxes, millions of Cameroonians might take to the streets and this could result in a bloodbath that may see his ethnic group paying a huge price as it has been the greatest beneficiary of the strong man’s corruption and nepotism.

They are tactfully and skillfully advising the Yaounde strong man that he could become a hero and a globally respected statesman if you played a key role in the peaceful transfer of power in Cameroon.

Mr. Biya is also being made to understand that if he continued to be in power, the conflict in the English-speaking regions would continue and more lives would be lost.

It should be recalled that the Southern Cameroons crisis and its mismanagement by the government have gone a long way in eroding Mr. Biya’s credibility.  The country’s economy has taken a hit and most corporations in the English-speaking regions have collapsed, with many of their employees have been laid off and are going through a stressful life.

Mention should also be made of the thousands of people who are today internally displaced, with more than half a million living in Nigeria as refugees.

So far, news from election officials regarding the computation of results is not good. The first election results reports have been reviewed and it is clear that Prof. Kamto has a huge lead in many of the precincts in the four major and populated regions – West, Littoral, Far North and Center.

This news has hit Mr. Biya’s closest collaborators like Laurent Esso, Fame Ndongo and Yang Philemon like a ton of bricks and many of them are still trying to put up a fight. They hold that the Constitutional Council can reverse things and that the people could be made to reason through military brutality.

It is being rumored that there is panic in the corridors of power as Biya is gradually opening up to the idea of accepting Prof. Kamto as the winner of the October 7 poll.

Our source, which has elected anonymity, stressed that Mr. Biya’s changing attitude has become a millstone around the necks of his collaborators, many of whom have huge skeletons in their cupboards.

“Mr. Biya’s display of flexibility regarding the possibility of political alternance in Cameroon is causing many of his collaborators to lose sleep, especially those who advised the president to take tough military action against anglophone protesters. This decision has come back to bite the government. Election results are a true reflection of the people’s frustration with a system that has spread pain and death among Cameroonians,” the source said.

“They have been rattled by this poll and they can feel the people’s determination to take to the streets if the ruling party tries to change the results,” he added.

“Cameroon is gradually heading into a new political era and regime members are worried about their future. Many of this people have spent most of their time living expensive lives. They have yielded to the temptation of living above their means, and the thought of a new political dispensation is causing them huge nightmares,” he stressed.

Cameroon is gradually crossing the threshold into a new political era, but the country’s journey to that new era depends entirely on one person – Paul Biya.

As he contemplates the possibility of living as an ordinary citizen after October 30, most of his collaborators are yet to come to terms with the fact that they will have to face the same people they have been treating like second-class citizens.

By Kingsley Betek and Asu Vera Eyere

In a bid to give credibility to the fake presidential election organized in Cameroon by the Biya regime, Issa Tchiroma, Cameroon’s communication minister, recently said that there was a Transparency International observation mission in the country.

On Tuesday, October 9, 2018, Transparency International issued a statement that it had not sent any observation mission to Cameroon for the just-ended presidential poll that is already mired in controversy.

“Transparency International confirms that it has no international election observation mission in Cameroon. A recent television report featuring individuals described as working for Transparency International is false and untrue,” the statement said.

The statement also said that those who were posing as Transparency International staff had no affiliation with the renowned watchdog. “The individuals shown in the report have no affiliation with Transparency International,” said Patricia Moreira, Managing Director of Transparency International.

She added that “We have not sent an international election observation mission to Cameroon. Our local chapter in Cameroon has established a reporting mechanism for use by the general public, and worked with a network of citizens to report possible irregularities to the chapter. However, none of these activities are part of an official election observation mission.”

“A deliberate attempt to impersonate Transparency International or knowingly portray non-affiliated individuals as employees of the anti-corruption watchdog is completely unacceptable. At this critical time for democracy in Cameroon, Transparency International and Transparency International Cameroon urge all parties in politics and media to act responsibly and with integrity in their communications around the election and its results,” the statement concluded.

The Yaounde government is seeking recognition and it is bent on doing all it can to convince the world that the elections where free and fair. But its efforts are not yielding the right results. It has never won any election and this one will not be any different.

However, this time around, the government might be in for real trouble. President-elect, Prof. Maurice Kamto, is preparing for his swearing-in come October 22, 2018 in  Yaounde, the nation’s capital and his decision to declare himself the winner of the poll seems to be attracting some strange clouds to the nation’s capital. Many people are already wondering about what will happen if things do not work out smoothly on October 22.

The news about Prof. Kamto’s victory has hit regime members like a ton of bricks. Since Prof. Kamto’s announcement, regime members have been scrambling to discredit him, with many of them forgetting that he is a jurist and a legal mind who understands the intricacies of the law. He has once been in government and knows how crooked the system is. 

Regime members have been counting on other things, but nature seems to be telling a different story. The clouds are gathering and the messages are not good, both for the country and the regime. The clouds started gathering when Prof. Kamto clearly declared that he had the people’s mandate and that he would defend that mandate come what may.

The Yaounde regime is losing sleep. Prof. Kamto’s victory and announcement have caught the regime off guard.   The regime is used to rigging elections without bothering about the people’s reaction.

But this time around, the regime seems to be bothered by the people’s reaction and Prof. Kamto’s calm demeanor and determination to defend a mandate that has been handed to him by voters. No army can be stronger than the people and Prof. Kamto has the potential to put millions of Cameroonians on the streets if the Constitutional Council does not make the right decision.

The signs are not good. A Kamto victory therefore implies that most government officials and senior members of the ruling party are looking at long jail terms. They have been running the country as if it is a personal estate.

The country’s president, Paul Biya, has been using the country’s treasury as if it is his personal ATM. Mr. Biya has never won an election and he has been counting on his rigging machinery to extend his stay in power.

Sunday’s poll were marred by many irregularities designed to favor the incumbent. However, it must be pointed out that it is hard to organize perfect elections in a developing and infrastructure-poor country like Cameroon.

This situation has been made all the more challenging by the Southern Cameroons crisis that is tearing the country apart.

In the two English-speaking regions of the country, due to insecurity, the number of polling stations was reduced, but voters were not given the means to reach their new polling stations.

For example, Prime Minister Yang Philemon was allowed to vote at Up station in Bamenda while he had registered to vote in Oku which is his hometown since the government could not guarantee security in Oku.

While the Prime Minister voted, his fellow Oku residents were never given a similar opportunity. The same applies to the Senate President, Niat Njifenji, who was allowed to vote in Paris when he never registered to vote there.

It should be recalled that the country’s Senate president was evacuated to a French hospital one month ago and there was no way he could have known that he would be ill before the election.

But the most sickening irregularities took place at the polling stations. In some polling stations in the country, opposition returning officers were not allowed into the polling stations.

There were reports of polling stations being lodged in unofficial locations. Some ballot boxes also arrived already opened and this caused a lot of argument.

In the south and littoral regions, some opposition returning officers were beaten and thrown out of the polling station. This actually happened to Cabral Libii’s returning officers and his party is already talking of taking the matter up with the election organizing body and the constitutional council.

These and other factors have converged to give the government a very bad name. Mr. Biya should have left honorably, but he felt his rigging machine would deliver the fake results he was used to.

But times have changed. The people need change. The hardship, poor economic situation, the conflict with the country’s rich Diaspora and the government’s arrogance have been some of the mistakes that will linger in the minds of members of the crime syndicate that has ruled the country for decades.

Mr. Biya and his men will surely not be going down without a fight. Their mismanagement and the anger of the people are making it hard for them to relinquish power peacefully. While results in the field are against them, members of the ruling party have already pushed their plan B into action.

The hastily set up Constitutional Council is their last option. Since this is the body that is authorized to publish results, Mr. Biya and his men hold that the members of this body will be able to reverse things in their favor.

This was exactly the same thing that happened in 1992 when the SDF candidate, John Fru Ndi, won 62% of the votes, but the Supreme Court, which was acting as the Constitutional Council, handed the victory to a barefaced Biya who has continued to lord it over his fellow citizens.

In 1992, there was no social media and the government could easily use the military to intimidate the civilian population, especially the Francophone majority that knew very little about collective action.

Today, the dynamics are different. Southern Cameroonians have demystified the military and this is inspiring the Francophone majority which now knows that through collective action, it can change its own destiny.

Prior to the election, many opposition leaders had called on their supporters to be vigilant, they have advised that in the event of any doctoring of the results by the Constitutional  Council, the whole country will be in the grip of a revolution.

Cameroon is therefore sitting on a keg of gun powder that might go off if the Constitutional Council tries to play pranks that might rob the people of their victory.  The Kamto victory might be good, but it could dump the country into a long spell of insecurity and violence.

The chaos that may play out in Yaounde if the Constitutional Council over-plays its hands and luck might make it easy for Southern Cameroons to finally walk away in peace while Francophones seek to kill each other.

However, if Prof. Kamto takes his place at the Unity Palace, he might find common ground with the separatists. He has already expressed the wish to sit and talk with Southern Cameroonians, but he might have to head to Washington DC or Ottawa for that to happen.

The regime will surely want to use the military to intimidate the population, but the people must stand their ground. The military cannot kill everybody and until the Francophone majority understands that, it will continue to live in the invisible chains of slavery.

Francophones have to learn from Southern Cameroonians who have demonstrated that a minority can bring about change in a country. They have to conquer their fear. They have to stand their ground. They cannot let a minority to continue lording it over a majority.

Until they threaten the Yaounde government, they will never come out of their poverty. The Yaounde government has weaponized poverty to subjugate the people. This must be stopped and this election is an opportunity to put an end to the mess that has given Cameroon a bloodshot eye.

 By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai, Irene Nanyongo and Kingsley Betek.

As President-elect, Prof. Maurice Kamto, prepares for his swearing-in, Yaounde, the nation’s capital, seems to be witnessing some strange clouds. Many people are wondering about what will happen if things do not work out smoothly.

The news about Prof. Kamto’s victory has hit regime members like a ton of bricks. Since Prof. Kamto’s announcement, regime members have been scrambling to discredit him, with many of them forgetting that he is a jurist and a legal mind who understands the intricacies of the law. He has once been in government and knows how crooked the system is.  

Regime members have been counting on other things, but nature seems to be telling a different story. The clouds are gathering and the messages are not good, both for the country and the regime. The clouds started gathering when Prof. Kamto clearly declared that he had the people’s mandate and that he would defend that mandate come what may.

The Yaounde regime is losing sleep. Prof. Kamto’s victory and announcement have caught the regime off guard.   The regime is used to rigging elections without bothering about the people’s reaction.

But this time around, the regime seems to be bothered by the people’s reaction and Prof. Kamto’s calm demeanor and determination to defend a mandate that has been handed to him by voters. No army can be stronger than the people and Prof. Kamto has the potential to put millions of Cameroonians on the streets if the Constitutional Council does not make the right decision.

The signs are not good. A Kamto victory therefore implies that most government officials and senior members of the ruling party are looking at long jail terms. They have been running the country as if it is a personal estate.

The country’s president, Paul Biya, has been using the country’s treasury as if it is his personal ATM. Mr. Biya has never won an election and he has been counting on his rigging machinery to extend his stay in power.

In 1992, thanks to the Supreme Court that was made up of his appointees, he successfully robbed the Social Democratic Front (SDF) candidate, John Fru Ndi, of his victory.

Mr. Fru Ndi had beaten Mr. Biya by a wide margin and the Supreme Court that was acting in lieu of the Constitutional Council had handed Mr. Biya the victory and he immediately imposed a state of emergency in the Northwest region which is Mr. Fru Ndi’s region of origin.

But 1992 is not 2018. A lot has happened between 1992 and 2018. Social media has shown up as a new tool for holding politicians and government officials accountable for their actions.

Today, results can be easily known a few hours after voting, thanks to android phones that can capture everything in real time. Today, the Internet is awash with videos of electoral fraud perpetrated by ruling party members. The country’s electoral law that is supposed to punish defaulters seem to be looking the other way as these crimes get committed.

Besides, Cameroonians are determined to unseat a government that has been reckless with their money for over three decades. This is a government that cannot make a difference between a party and a state. State funds have been used for decades to fund a crime syndicate that has brought the country’s economy to its knees.

But the cloud over Yaounde has an ominous message for Mr. Biya and his collaborators. They have a choice. Concede defeat and exit honorably or insist on rigging the election and bring a disaster on the country.

Prof. Kamto has already stretched an olive branch to Mr. Biya and his family. He has already indicated that he will grant him immunity. He is also very willing to protect him and his family. That is good enough to allay Mr. Biya’s fears.

But if Mr. Biya opts to take the other route, that which might lead to a disaster, then he would have opted for the extermination of Betis and his party members who have brought untold hardship to the people.

Counting on the Constitutional Council could be like walking a tight rope. Cameroonians do not have faith in the Constitutional Council Mr. Biya created. This Council is replete with his party members and it is clear that their appointment was designed to enable them grant him the extension he needs to stay in power.

Let Mr. Biya not accept the madness the Constitutional Council might want to impose on him. It is often said that when the gods want to punish you, they first of all give madness. With such madness you can destroy yourself and your entire family.

If Mr. Biya accepts a crown he does not deserve, he will only be opening a new war front in Yaounde. Boko Haram is still a menace in the North and Southern Cameroonians are still an active threat in the northwest and southwest regions. More than two years after the Southern Cameroons crisis started, the fighters are still determined and the state is already running out of steam and resources.

A new war front in Yaounde will put the Betis who have profited from Mr. Biya’s regime at a huge risk. The Betis account for less than 10% of the country’s population, but they account for more than 70% of the senior positions in the country and ambassadorial appointments. This has been a source of anger among other Cameroonians.

The international community should not allow this to happen. Cameroonians are frustrated and if that were to happen, the Betis would be exterminated. The world should stop watching from the sidelines. An orgy of killing is being prepared and if Mr. Biya does not take the right decision, he might turn Yaounde and its environs into a massive killing field.

Mr. Biya and his men should see the writing on the wall. Their time is up and it is in their interest if they choose the honorable way out.  Mr. Kamto has decided to leave the door open for Mr. Biya and his men to walk out in dignity. He has advised them to come for negotiations on how the transition could be smooth.

If they fail to listen to Prof. Kamto’s wise counsel, they will have to deal with an angry crowd that might want to take its pound of flesh for the pain it has been put through for 36 years. Instead of being confused and trying to play hardball with the public, they should seize the opportunity offered to them by Prof. Kamto.

If they push ahead with their plan through their questionable Constitutional Council, then they have clearly opted for a path that will expose them to violence and disgrace. There is still time for Mr. Biya and his men to put on their thinking caps.

Everything has its time. The time for tricks is over. It is in the interest of the regime and the country if Mr. Biya concedes defeat and congratulates Prof. Kamto on his success.  The world is watching and the international community is already nodding in approval and this is giving Prof. Kamto the courage he needs to move forward with his plan of action.

The storm that is gathering over Yaounde can be defused if Mr. Biya and his men think differently. They must understand that when your time is up, nature shows you the signs, and the tell-tale signs have been there for a long time.

The government’s inability to call the Southern Cameroons bluff in the northwest and southwest regions should let regime members know that God is behind the disaster that is gradually heading to Yaounde. Southern Cameroonians have withstood their ground and they have given the military a good run for its money just by using rudimentary weapons.

God is talking to Mr. Biya and his Beti backers should let him know that a huge risk is staring them in the face and that it is time to pack and leave so as to spare the country a bloodbath that has been in the making for more than three decades.

 By Kingsley Betek in Yaounde and Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai at the global headquarters in the UK.

Maurice Kamto, a leading opposition challenger to President Paul Biya, claimed victory on Monday in Cameroon’s presidential election despite a government warning not to announce unofficial results.

The dramatic announcement by the candidate of the Movement for the Rebirth of Cameroon (MRC) follows Sunday polls marked by violence in restive anglophone regions, low turnout and difficulties staging the ballot in the conflict-torn north.

By law each polling station must submit its results, after verification by the Elecam electoral commission, to the Constitutional Court, which is responsible for announcing the final, official tally within 15 days.

“I was charged with taking a penalty, I took it and I scored,” said Kamto at a media conference in Yaounde.

“I have received a clear mandate from the people and I intend to defend it until the end,” he added.

But the secretary general of Biya’s ruling Cameroon People’s Democratic Movement, Labour Minister Grégoire Owona, accused Kamto of breaking the law.

“It is not right at all to announce this. He hasn’t won anything at all. It’s totally illegal,” he said, adding that it was too early to say if anyone had won.

A raft of unofficial results from Cameroon’s almost 25,000 polling stations have already begun to circulate on social media.

Ahead of Kamto’s declaration, Paul Atanga-Nji, the minister for territorial administration, called on “all the political players… to act responsibly so that the process concludes in the same spirit as it started”.

“Any attempt to disrupt public order will be handled thoroughly,” Atanga-Nji told FRANCE 24 on Monday.

Opposition candidates had called on their supporters to oversee the tallying process to prevent any fraud that might favour 85-year-old Biya’s quest for re-election.

“Times are tough. Rise up and prepare to defend your victory because there are some unbelievable things going on,” said outsider opposition hopeful, Cabral Libii, who at 38 was the youngest candidate.

Ahead of the polls, in which 6.5 million voters were eligible to cast ballots, Kamto warned he would “not accept any” result tainted by fraud.

‘No one came to vote’

Tensions were high during the vote and violence was reported in the anglophone regions that have been torn by a separatist insurgency that erupted a year ago.

After voting began Sunday, security forces shot dead three suspected separatists who had allegedly fired at passersby from a motorcycle in Bamenda, the main city in the English-speaking northwest region, a local official said.

In Buea, capital of the anglophone southwest, three separatists of the Ambazonia Republic were gunned down on Friday.

Gunfire was heard in the largely deserted town throughout polling day and a car belonging to the state-run Cameroon Tribune newspaper came under fire.

The violence in the anglophone regions has killed at least 420 civilians, 175 members of the security forces and an unknown number of separatists, according to the International Crisis Group (ICG) think-tank.

“We’re bored because no one came to vote, people stayed at home because they’re scared,” said opposition election observer Georges Fanang in one of Buea’s polling stations.

Low turnout?

The army also confirmed that voting could not be held in at least one district of the southwest, Lysoka village, because of the insecurity.

“As expected, turnout in the English regions has been particularly low with virtually all the returns we have seen suggesting less than five percent,” said ICG analyst Hans de Marie Heungoup.

The poll passed off without incident in the rest of the country.

“Two weeks! We’ve just finished counting here and I’m already getting news from other polling stations,” complained poll worker Francois, 22, after the ballot finished at one voting centre in Yaounde on Sunday night.

But in the far north region, considered a “key” to the election because of its large population, very few opposition election observers deployed to remote polling stations, witnesses said, raising fears of possible fraud.

The region has been rocked by violent attacks carried out by Nigeria-based Boko Haram jihadists despite US efforts to equip and train Cameroonian forces.

(FRANCE 24 with AFP)

Cameroon’s president-elect, Prof. Maurice Kamto, has finally held his press conference in Yaounde today after the country’s forces of law and order tried to prevent him from talking to the press.

Speaking to a full house of determined Cameroonians, Prof. Kamto said the people of Cameroon had given him the mandate to preside over the country’s destiny for the next seven years and that would be the job he would be doing in the days ahead.

He said he was willing and ready to defend the people’s victory, calling on the out-going president and his collaborators to ensure that the transition is smooth and peaceful.

He promised to provide protection and immunity to the out-going president, Paul Biya, and his family, adding that all administrative officers should continue to do their work to ensure Cameroon is spared the specter of bloodshed.

Prof. Kamto’s press conference comes after he had spoken with officials of some Western embassies who have assured him of their support and determination to see that peace returns to the struggling nation. The U.S.A ambassador has already congratulated Prof. Kamto and he looks forward to working with the new authorities.  

During the press conference, he promised to address the Southern Cameroons crisis, adding that he would be visiting the region very soon to get a full understanding of the situation.

He regretted the loss of life in the region, adding that “the sun will rise and shine again in the North West and South West regions.”

He said he would rebuild the towns that have been burnt down by the Biya regime, adding that all those who have lost their homes would be compensated.

It should be recalled Prof. Kamto had during the campaign promised he would talk with Southern Cameroonian leaders if he won the election and he is keen on being as good as his word.

Meanwhile, the Interim President of Southern Cameroon, Dr. Samuel Sako, has also congratulated Prof. Kamto, adding that he would be working with him to bring peace to Southern Cameroons.

Currently there are negotiations going on between the Biya team and the Kamto team. Mr. Biya is a man under pressure and he has to quit before he gets humiliated.

Cameroonians are prepared to defend their victory and no killing of civilians will change the decision. Biya has to go. He has had more than his fair share of life. He has spilled Cameroonian blood, so he has no place in our country. He belongs to the past and must not be allowed to stay in power. 

 By Kingsley Betek in Yaounde