As the second year of conflict in Southern Cameroons spillover to the urban centers, hostilities are increasing and temperatures are falling due to the rains. The much needed humanitarian aid from international organizations is still not coming. There is a humanitarian crisis in the rural areas, according to local rights groups. The UN has calculated that nearly 1.5 million Southern Cameroonians are affected by the protracted conflict and are in need of humanitarian aid and protection. The world body also says, some 40,000 Ambazonians have fled the conflict into neighboring Nigeria.  But according to UN officials in Nigeria, the Southern Cameroons UN humanitarian response plan has been severely underfunded.

With heavy rains already underway, the Interim Government of the Federal Republic of Ambazonia is anticipating an urgent need for services in rural areas.  According to the Ambazonian Department for Homeland Security, civilian protection remains the primary humanitarian need in both the Northern and the Southern Zones due to ongoing active fighting and the prevalence of conflict-induced displacement. Over 160,000 Southern Cameroonians have been displaced since President Biya ordered troops to crush separatists in the territory, making the Southern Cameroons population of internally displaced people (IDPs) the largest in Africa.

In addition, 2018 has seen deterioration in people’s access to humanitarian goods and services, as well as a doubling of food insecurity and skyrocketing unemployment rates in Southern Cameroons. The crisis in Southern Cameroons has reportedly caused a huge increase in the price of food and utilities in both Biya regime controlled French Cameroun and Southern Cameroons. The rural areas and occupied towns will lack adequate food to meet their basic needs at the height of the rainy season. Currently, up to a million Ambazonians are moderately or severely food insecure.

Amnesty International in a recent statement maintained that the civilian population in Southern Cameroons continues to pay the highest price for the conflict. Meanwhile, the Ambazonia Self-Defense Council Restoration Forces have been stepping up attacks against Cameroon government soldiers in the cities. Heavy gun battles were reported in Muea, Ekona, Mbalangi and Muyuka in the Southern Zone. The International Crisis Group (ICG) has also expressed increased concern due to the escalation of hostilities in Southern Cameroons. The ICG says a return to normality, wherein civilians can once again resume their everyday lives without fear of shelling is the first step to a long-term sustainable peace.

Source:www.cameroonintelligencereport.com

Brasseries du Cameroun and its subsidiaries are donating huge sums of money to support the Biya Francophone government in its genocidal war currently going on in the Federal Republic of Ambazonia/Southern Cameroons, Cameroon Intelligence Report has learned.  The senior managers of Brasseries have also personally made financial donations to the French Cameroun army via the ministry of defense worth millions of FCFA.

The Brasseries du Cameroun donations comes at a time when Cameroon government forces were violently attacking Southern Cameroons towns and villages and have eventually forced more than 40,000 men, women and children to flee into neighboring Nigeria. The United Nations also reported recently that some 160,000 Southern Cameroonians have been displaced internally.

The Interim Government of the Federal Republic of Ambazonia with the support of human rights group has documented numerous crimes against humanity amid the violence, which included killings, rapes, torture, village burning and forced starvation tactics.

Brasseries du Cameroun’s first donation was handed over to the Minister Delegate in-Charge of Defense, Joseph Beti Assomo in the presence of the Cameroon army chief, General Rene Meka. We understand that these donations are funding the operations of military units involved in crimes against humanity in Southern Cameroons. To be sure, Brasseries du Cameroun and other brewery companies with headquarters in French Cameroun have endorsed the Biya war against the people of Southern Cameroons.

By donating to the military jointly and severally, Brasseries by extrapolation has worsening the human rights situation in Southern Cameroons. Cameroon Concord News Group is calling for a boycott of all Brasseries products in Southern Cameroons. We also call on Acting President Dr. Ikome Sako to ban the sale of Brasseries du Cameroun products in Ambazonia.

By Chi Prudence Asong, London

Italy’s Interior Minister Matteo Salvini has warned yet another refugee rescue mission off the Libyan coast that it would not be allowed to unload its “human cargo” at an Italian port.

Salvini’s warning came days after the new right-wing and anti-refugee Italian government denied a safe harbor to the Aquarius, a French NGO-operated charity ship, to unload its more than 600 rescued refugees and asylum seekers on board, causing uproar and a sharp spat with France.

“While the Aquarius is sailing toward Spain, two other Dutch NGO-operated vessels (Lifeline and Seefuchs) have arrived off the Libyan coast, to wait for their human cargos once the people smugglers abandon them,” the Italian minister said in a Facebook post on Saturday.

“These gentlemen should know that Italy no longer wants to be complicit in the business of illegal immigration and they will have to look for other ports to go to,” further said Salvini, who heads the far-right League party, adding that he took the action “for the benefit of all.”

Following Italy’s controversial decision to bar the Aquarius from docking, however, Malta quickly followed suit, leaving the ship stranded at the Mediterranean until Spain offered to the vessel a safe harbor. The Aquarius, which is jointly run by SOS Méditerranée and Doctors Without Borders (MSF), is due to arrive in Valencia on Sunday.

Meanwhile, Ferdinando Pagnoncelli, president of polling company Ipsos Italia, said that based on a survey conducted on Tuesday and Wednesday, almost 60 percent of Italians were in favor of closing the country’s ports.

Libya is the main departure point for asylum seekers attempting to reach Europe by sea. Many refugees have crossed the central Mediterranean to Italy over the past four years as human traffickers took advantage of a security vacuum in Libya after the toppling of its long-time ruler.

Thousands of other asylum seekers have perished at sea.

To stop the flow of the refugees headed for Europe, the Libyan coastguard has stepped up its interception operations. To carry out those operations, the Libyan coastguard has been funded, equipped, and trained by European countries.

The Libyan coastguard has previously accused NGOs of creating panic and confusion by their presence during rescue operations as the refugees and asylum seekers all surge to reach the charter boats to avoid being returned to crisis-hit Libya.

Source: Presstv

The Interim Government of the Federal Republic of Ambazonia is challenging French Cameroun dictator President Paul Biya to ensure that no highly placed Cameroon government official visits Ambazonian refugee camps in Nigeria. Cameroon Concord News correspondent in the US reported that Acting President Dr. Ikome Sako has ordered self-defense forces in the Manyu County to be on the alert and to arrest or kill any Biya regime official visiting Southern Cameroons refugees in the Cross River State in Nigeria.

Confirming the President Sako decision, Ambazonian Communications Secretary, Hon. Chris Anu told Camcordnews that French Cameroun army soldiers deployed to Southern Cameroons created the horrific  war that forced some 40, 000 Ambazonians to escape into hiding in neighboring Nigeria. Chris Anu further pointed out that the situation has changed as the Ambazonian Self-Defense Council Restoration Forces reasserted control, enabling the Interim Government’s presence to spread throughout Southern Cameroons.

Mr. Anu also warned that any visit of Southern Cameroons refugees in Nigeria by French Cameroun government officials was unacceptable.  The Interim Government is expected to issue a strong statement on Monday to the international community condemning any move by La Republique du Cameroun towards the suffering Ambazonian population in Nigeria.

Cameroon Concord News gathered that the Ambazonian Interim Government has established a new calculus that has to take place and French Cameroun has to understand that the Federal Republic of Ambazonia will not tolerate any French Cameroun political or military entrenchment in Southern Cameroons. “The consequences of visiting the Ambazonian refugees in Nigeria will not merely be to the French Cameroun government officials and their entourage but to the Biya regime and its forces in Southern Cameroons as well. I think it’s something that Yaoundé should consider very seriously, added Chris Anu.

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai

An agency that monitors jihadist websites says al Qaeda’s Mali branch has released a video of two hostages, including French aid worker Sophie Pétronin, who was abducted in late 2016.

SITE Intelligence Group said the video released Wednesday on Telegram by the Mali-based Nusrat al-Islam wal Muslimeen shows Pétronin and Colombian nun Gloria Cecilia Narvaez.

Pétronin, 75, was abducted in late 2016 by armed men in the northern Malian town of Gao, where she ran an organisation for malnourished children. Narvaez was seized near Mali’s border with Burkina Faso in February 2017. The footage shows the two women together, with Narvaez providing care to Pétronin.

SITE says Pétronin addresses her son and expresses a wish to reunite with her family. She then addresses French President Emmanuel Macron, stating that the footage was recorded on June 7.

Narvaez addresses Pope Francis, asking him to intervene on behalf of the sick Pétronin. In January, the insurgents released a video of Narvaez, with an extremist narrating an appeal for the payment of her release. Pétronin appeared in videos released in March of this year and in July 2017.

In 2012, Mali’s north fell under the control of jihadist groups linked to al Qaeda who exploited an ethnic Tuareg-led rebel uprising, though the Islamists were largely ousted by a French-led military operation in January 2013.

Since then, jihadists have continued to mount numerous attacks on civilians and the army, as well as on French and UN forces stationed there.

(FRANCE 24 with AP)

The Acting President of the Federal Republic of Ambazonia, His Excellency Dr. Samuel Ikome Sako has called on all Southern Cameroons liberation groups to overcome their differences and take a unified front in supporting the Ambazonia Self-Defense Council Restoration Forces.

President Sako through Ambazonia’s Communications Secretary Chris Anu warned on Tuesday against any Southern Cameroons organization pursuing a unilateral resistance policy regarding French Cameroun military illegal activities inside Ambazonia territory. Dr. Sako observed that his decision on My Trip to Buea will be made earlier than expected and added that Southern Cameroonians needed a unified approach that addressed the interests of all Ambazonians and the international community.

Delivering the message from President Dr. Ikome Sako to the people of Southern Cameroons, Hon. Chris Anu further stated that the Interim Government (IG) will not act unilaterally, but that everything under the direct supervision of President Sako will be with agreements with other leaders on Ground Zero, so that Southern Cameroonians will always have a unified Ambazonia approach.

The Acting President also opined that Southern Cameroonians in Europe, South Africa, Canada and the USA should and must stick together and continue to donate generously to My Trip to Buea.  Over the past two years ever since President Biya of Cameroon declared war against the people of Southern Cameroons, more than 40, 000 Ambazonians have fled the conflict into neighboring Nigeria. The United Nations reported recently that there were 160,000 internally displaced Southern Cameroonians in need of food, shelter and medicinE.

Chris Anu in his audio message acknowledged that the IG was lacking far behind the two million dollar target for My Trip to Buea.

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai

The war in Southern Cameroons has reportedly separated some 90,000 Ambazonian families ever since it started on October 2016, amid a crackdown on innocent Southern Cameroonians by the government of the 85 year-old President Biya.

The Communications Secretary of the Ambazonian Interim Government, Hon. Chris Anu told Cameroon Intelligence Report that the number of family separations have risen very sharply in the past weeks, largely because of the French Cameroun army onslaught in the Northern and Southern zones particularly in places like Belo, Kwa Kwa, Otu, Muyenge, Menji, Azi, Menka-Pinyin, Mamfe, Ekondo Titi, Tombel, Kumba, Batibo, Kendem,  and Dadi. Speaking to CIR on condition of anonymity, a prominent Southern Cameroonian resident in Yaoundé noted that the situation is shameful, disgusting and disgraceful.

The numbers are the first comprehensive disclosure by the Acting President of the Interim Government, Dr. Samuel Ikome Sako of how many families have been affected by the war declared by the French Cameroun dictator against the people of Southern Cameroons. The United Nations revealed recently that some 160,000 Southern Cameroonians have been internally displaced while some 40,000 have fled the conflict into neighboring Nigeria.

President Biya has made his hard-line stance on the Anglophone uprising an integral part of his 35 years old presidency and has vowed never to negotiate with those he described as “separatists and terrorists”.  Biya and his minister for defense, Joseph Beti Assomo announced a “zero tolerance” policy which has led to crimes against humanity being committed in Southern Cameroons by French Cameroun army soldiers. Many Southern Cameroonians apprehended ever since the crisis started have been criminally charged and hundreds are being held in detention facilities in French Cameroun which generally leads to children being separated from their parents.

The Interim Government of the Federal Republic of Ambazonia in a statement released last week further pointed out that some Southern Cameroons 867 teenagers currently in the Cross River State in Nigeria were separated from their parents in the Manyu County precisely from the Akwaya and Eyumojock Sub constituencies due to the intense gun battle going on in the area. The United Nations is yet to make an appeal for an immediately halt to hostilities.

source: www.cameroonintelligencereport.com

Civilians are caught in a deadly escalation of violence in Cameroon between security forces and separatists seeking an English-speaking state, Amnesty International said in a new report Tuesday.

The human rights group called for an end to “unnecessary and excessive force” on both sides and for authorities to ensure that perpetrators are brought to justice.

Cameroon’s unrest began in November 2016 when English-speaking teachers and lawyers in the northwest and southwest began calling for reforms and greater autonomy, criticizing what they called the marginalization of the Anglophone population by French speakers. The English-speaking community accounts for about one-fifth of the country’s 25 million people.

A government crackdown, including arrests and an internet shutdown, followed. English-language separatists then picked up the momentum, calling for an independent state.

The fighters have burned down schools and killed at least 44 members of security forces in the past year, the report says. They have vowed to paralyze the country until their leader Ayuk Tabe, who declared himself the president of the English-speaking Republic of Ambazonia, is released. He was arrested in December with 48 others in neighboring Nigeria and extradited to Cameroon.

Security forces have responded with arbitrary arrests and unlawful killings, the new report says.

In interviews with more than 150 victims and witnesses, people told Amnesty International they were blindfolded, gagged and beaten with shovels, hammers, planks and cables.

“Security forces have indiscriminately killed, arrested and tortured people during military operations which have also displaced thousands of civilians,” said Samira Daoud, Amnesty International’s deputy director for West and Central Africa.

For their part, the separatists have “also carried out attacks designed to strike fear amongst the population, going as far as burning down schools and targeting teachers who did not enforce the boycott,” Daoud said.

Cameroon’s government spokesman Issa Tchiroma Bakary said the government was reading the report and would address it Wednesday.

Source: The Seattle Times

Spain has offered to take in a ship stranded in the Mediterranean with 629 refugees aboard after Italy and Malta refused to let the vessel dock, as an NGO raised fears for their safety due to deteriorating weather conditions.

Aid workers warned that fresh food and drink supplied by the Maltese navy to the Aquarius on Monday would only last until Tuesday.

The refugees, including pregnant women and scores of children, were saved by French charity SOS Mediterranee on Saturday.

“This mobilization is a very positive signal although reaching Spain would require several days of sailing. With so many people on board under deteriorating weather conditions could become critical,” the NGO said on Twitter late Monday.

“Safety of all rescued people should remain the priority before all.”

Malta and the new populist government in Italy both refused to take the refugees in, accusing each other of failing to meet their obligations.

The refusal to accept the Aquarius in Italy was the first major anti-refugee move since far-right Interior Minister Matteo Salvini took office this month.

Salvini tweeted “VICTORY” after two days of confrontation with Malta over the refugees ended with Spain’s offer of help.

The new Spanish administration headed by Socialist Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez agreed to allow the Aquarius to dock at its eastern port of Valencia, insisting that it was an “obligation” to do so.

But Spain’s new foreign minister, Josep Borrell, said the gesture was also intended to underline the need for solidarity from the entire bloc.

“Italy has received an enormous influx of migrants and so far other European countries haven’t shown much solidarity,” Borrell told a news briefing in Madrid.

There was, he said, a “need for Europeans… to face up, in a united and coordinated manner, to a problem that is a problem for all, and not just for Greece one year and for Italy the next”.

Fresh supplies

SOS Mediterranee director general Sophie Beau earlier warned that the ship would have to travel some 1,300 kilometers (800 miles) to reach the Spanish coast — which AFP estimates could take at least four days — and that by Tuesday “there will be no more food (on board) apart from energy biscuits”.

“The Aquarius has just received a resupply of 950 bottles of water, 800 packs of noodles and snacks from a vessel of the Maltese navy,” the SOS Mediterranee tweeted Monday, adding that this would only allow for one more meal on Tuesday.

Malta and Italy thanked Spain for stepping up, but maintained their dispute over who was responsible.

Malta’s Prime Minister Joseph Muscat tweeted his thanks to Sanchez “for agreeing to accept the Aquarius after Italy violated international law and caused an impasse”.

He added, “It will be necessary to sit down and discuss how to prevent this kind of thing from happening in the future. This is a European issue.”

Italy’s Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte said his country had “asked for a gesture of solidarity from Europe and this gesture has been made”.

Conte is set to head to Paris for talks with French President Emmanuel Macron on Friday ahead of the European summit on June 28-29, with a particular focus on migration, Macron’s office said Monday.

But Beau said that under maritime law the ship should be allowed to dock in one of the nearest countries, Italy or Malta.

‘Close the doors’

The UN had called on Malta and Italy to immediately allow the boat to dock, describing the situation as “an urgent humanitarian imperative”.

The EU and its biggest member state Germany made similar pleas.

“The priority of both the Italian and Maltese authorities should be ensuring these people receive the care they need,” European Commission spokesman Margaritis Schinas told reporters, calling for a “swift resolution”.

But Salvini refused to back down.

“Saving lives is a duty, turning Italy into a huge refugee camp is not. Italy is done bending over backwards and obeying, this time THERE IS SOMEONE WHO SAYS NO,” he wrote on Twitter followed by the hashtag #closethedoors.

Despite his refusal to accept Aquarius, the Italian Coast Guard ship Diciotto, carrying 937 refugees, was expected to dock in Sicily Tuesday or Wednesday.

‘Vulnerable patients at risk’

MSF Sea (Doctors Without Borders) said the medical situation of those on the Aquarius was “stable for now but unnecessary delay to disembarkation in safe port puts vulnerable patients at risk.”

“Particularly seven pregnant woman, 15 with serious chemical burns and several critical drowning hypothermia patients,” MSF Sea added.

Conte said Sunday that Rome had sent two patrol ships with doctors on board “ready to intervene and ensure the health of anyone on board the Aquarius who might have the need”.

The refugees were rescued in six separate night-time operations in the central Mediterranean on Saturday.

‘Land of refuge’

Under EU rules, refugees must apply for asylum in the European country where they first arrive.

That has put pressure on Italy and Greece, the entry points for hundreds of thousands of people fleeing war and poverty in the Middle East, Africa and Asia since 2015.

EU leaders in December had set an end-of-June deadline for an overhaul of rules to create a permanent mechanism to deal with refugees in the event of a new emergency.

(Source: AFP)

The lower house of Canada’s parliament has unanimously condemned the recent personal attacks on Prime Minister Justin Trudeau by US President Donald Trump and other American officials, which have offended Canadian elites and ordinary citizens amid a dispute over trade.

Lawmakers at the House of Commons on Monday unanimously adopted a motion backing Canadian steel and aluminum trade policies, as well as the supply management system that supports key agricultural sectors.

The motion, introduced by the opposition New Democrats, also rejected “disparaging and ad hominem statements by US officials, which do a disservice to bilateral relations and work against efforts to resolve this trade dispute.”

They also endorsed with a standing ovation the Trudeau government’s decision to impose tariffs on US goods in retaliation for the Trump administration’s levying of tariffs on Canadian steel and aluminum.

The vote of solidarity came as top White House advisers lashed out at Trudeau on Sunday a day after US President Donald Trump called him “very dishonest and weak” and withdrew support for a Group of Seven communiqué issued at the summit Trudeau hosted in Quebec on Saturday.

Trump attended that summit and only later withdrew support for the communiqué.

White House economic adviser Larry Kudlow accused Trudeau of betraying Trump with “polarizing” remarks.

Trade adviser Peter Navarro attacked the Canadian prime minister even more personally.

“There is a special place in hell for any leader that engages in bad faith diplomacy with President Donald J. Trump and then tries to stab him in the back on the way out the door and that’s what bad-faith Justin Trudeau did with that stunt press conference, that’s what weak, dishonest Justin Trudeau did,” Navarro said on CNN.

Trudeau’s government has ignored the personal insults.

The US barbs come after Trudeau said at a news conference at the end of the G7 conference that Canada would not be pushed around on tariffs — a point he had made several times before.

Other Canadian politicians have also decried the attacks by the US officials. Canadian pundits, celebrities, and ordinary citizens have also taken offense, and have pledged to take part in consumer boycotts of American goods and brainstormed insults of Trump on social media.

“Something strange and wonderful has been sparked by @realDonaldTrump’s dishonorable comments about this country. I think it might be a Canadian identity,” newspaper columnist John Ivison said on his Twitter account.

Source: Presstv