Ambazonia, which in the beginning had avoided being sucked into the civil war that is slowly but surely developing in Cameroon, has now become the site of the biggest humanitarian disaster in the over one year crisis.

The Manyu County – home to about 2 million residents – has been subjected to a near ceaseless military campaign in recent weeks by Cameroon armed forces.  Cameroon Concord News London bureau chief, Asu Isong traveled home in December to observe the determination of Ambazonians in building Africa’s newest democracy.

The people of the Ossing Kingdom knighted him as a Sessekou in a historic ceremony.  Sessekou Ashu Isong covered the onslaught in Egbekaw village and the attacks on a Gendarmerie Post in Mamfe.

He says Cameroon government forces have killed hundreds of Ambazonian civilians in the last three weeks alone. As more talks for dialogue get underway in Abuja-Nigeria where the leadership of the Federal Republic of Ambazonia is being held and Southern Cameroons teeters on the brink of being totally annihilated, we take a look at what’s on Sesseku Asu Isong’s dairy.

In December 2017, I made a three weeks trip to Ambaland for family and municipal purposes. If ever my commitment to help liberate and build The Federal Republic of Ambazonia was in doubt, this trip quenched that indecision. As I arrived at the ugly obscenity which is flippantly called Douala International Airport, my repulsion at the place turned to resentment. The structure is anything but an international airport.

In the twenty-first century, it is acceptable that there is no bureau de change, only men whistling at you and gesturing that they have local and foreign currency to peddle and purchase. The shops are prehistoric and half empty with vendors wearing facial expressions of people who have never been trained in dealing with the public and don’t really want to be there.

As we waited for our luggage to arrive, I dashed down to the little boy’s room and was in for the mother of all shocks. I went in and visited all the cubicles much to my bewilderment, there weren’t any toilet papers. As I left the indignity to take the long drive to Buea in pain, I noticed a young lady outside the door rationing the little toilet rolls the Biya regime could offer. It was shameful and disgusting and I said to myself never say you have seen it all.

The thought matured that the place wasn’t fit for purpose. Whilst waiting for my luggage, it dawned on me that many of the so-called leaders in La Republique du Cameroun where I had landed had studied and lived in the developed world. Many of them frequently visit other countries that have invested in people and infrastructure to enjoy good facilities. But with all the material wealth that the country possesses, only destitution and insufficiency are engraved on the faces of the people and their surroundings.

As we collected our bags and headed to Buea, I asked myself how we, as a people from Ambazonia, have accepted for fifty-seven years this marriage of inconvenience. I asked myself how and why people in this country under this insanity called a government have come to accept the intolerable. During that long drive, I kept pondering and deliberating with myself how a country so rich with natural resources and intellectuals can be so underdeveloped and unacceptably backward.

As I went to bed that night, I came to the decision that these people have been sold falsehoods for too long that they couldn’t do anything about their situation. They have been lied to for too long that things just have to be a certain way. The mindset of the people has been programmed to accept inaccuracies about their destinies.

As I crisscrossed Ambaland during my stay and saw the misery that has been perpetrated on my people by our political partners in French Cameroun, I agreed with many that the time for change has come.

Above all, what pleased me was the fact that the MINDSET of the people in Ambaland has changed. Our people back home now believe that if it’s to be, it’s up to them and that bequeathed me an enchanted satisfaction that no matter the obstacles we are going to face over the coming years, we will prevail, and our dream will one day be a reality in Buea.

Sessekou Asu Isong

Next on the Sessekou’s dairy is his encounter with two Gendarme officers in the Manyu County who instead of controlling his car documents at a checkpoint, begged for money to buy food.

Five Sahel countries that have pledged to pool military efforts to fight terrorism have set up a fiduciary fund to oversee donations for their campaign.

The decision was made by the defense and foreign ministers of Burkina Faso, Chad, Mali, Mauritania and Niger, Malian Foreign Minister Tieman Hubert Coulibaly said late Monday.

Their countries form the so-called G5 Sahel, a French-supported group that last year launched a joint military force to combat extremism plaguing the region.

Pledges last month brought total funding over the 250 million euros ($298 million) needed to get the force up and running following a maiden mission in the volatile border zone between Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger in November.

A summit of donor nations is scheduled to take place in Brussels on February 23 to top up funds.

Coulibaly said the fund would include an oversight committee to ensure “good management of the funds earmarked by partners.”

Management of the fund would be “transparent… a guarantee of the success of the mission to fight insecurity in the Sahel,” Coulibaly said after the meeting in Bamako, the Malian capital.

Major contributions so far have come from Saudi Arabia (100 million euros / $119 million); the European Union (50 million euros); the G5 members (50 million euros, consisting of 10 million euros apiece); United States ($60 million) and the United Arab Emirates (30 million euros).

(Source: AFP)

Truth is indeed a crime in an empire of liars. It is quite clear that the Biya regime is founded on lies and has been trading on that path ever since the April 6^th 1984 coup. As renowned Southern Cameroon journalists and media outlets are well known today with their excellence in investigative journalism and true reportage of news, in La Republique du Cameroun today, the case is different as almost all Anglophone media outlets are constantly being paid by the CPDM crime syndicate and given directions on what to broadcast and publish in their newsstands regarding the Southern Cameroons crisis. What a shame and disgrace to modern journalism.

Cameroon Intelligence Report gathered that lately, Ashu Nyenty and a group of Anglophone media gurus have yet again, taken to the CPDM path of blackmail, propaganda and lies against Sisiku Ayuk Tabe-the man heading the most peaceful and most behaved large number of agitators in the Sub Saharan African region in order to drag their prestige into the mud.

We of the Cameroon Concord News Group have received intelligence that the presidency of the republic has made available 275 million FCFA to a group of Anglophone journalists calling itself Cameroon Journalists Coalition for Peace Caravan. We were also informed that the two installment payments were made via Minister Mengot. Our chief intelligence officer in Yaoundé is yet to confirm the correctness of this information. But what we do know is that the Biya regime is sending the Anglophone media men and women on a journey of many dangers to Nigeria to persuade Cameroonian refugees to return home.

We understand that the Anglophone media gang has also been given directives to publicly seek for funding on lame and ridiculous reasons that they intend to take along some food and medical supplies to Ambazonians currently suffering in Nigeria.

Ever since President Biya ordered the murderous Francophone dominated armed forces to shoot and kill innocent Anglophone civilians, these Anglophone media men and women have reported such news using the word ‘CLASH’. However, in the words of Bishop Andrew Nkea of the Mamfe Diocese, “Kembong people are not running away from attackers, but from the military which is supposed to be protecting them,”

It is quite laughable that handlers of the Cameroon news agencies have over the last few days been struggling to indict Sisiku Ayuk Tabe and 9 other members of the Interim Government abducted in Abuja as criminals with his kinsmen Samuel-Martin Enoh Besong and Abraham Johnson Batey Batey calling for the Sisiku to be executed. Wonders shall never cease so long as Cameroon, a theater of absurdities, is concerned.

The Indigenous People of Southern Cameroons will not sit and watch the Francophone dominated army and their brown envelope news agencies drag its hard-earned reputation to the mud. Ambazonians will fight Yaoundé headlong with the only weapon we have which is ‘truth’ and we are publishing the Ashu Nyenty-Biya regime scheme for the world to know those who have been misleading the public with various degrees of lies  so as to hold them responsible for the ongoing genocide in Southern Cameroons taking place as a result of their constant lies to the entire public. Mr Ashu Nyenty posted this message on a forum grouping Southern Cameroons media gurus:

Ladies and gentlemen, dear colleagues

Pursuant to the announcement of the beginning of the initiative called: Cameroon Journalists Coalition for Peace Caravan intended to go to Nigeria and persuade Cameroonian refugees to return home and also to take along some food and medical supplies to them, contributions have opened for all Cameroonian journalists and other well wishers who support this initiative.

In this regard, an MTN mobile money account has been created with the number: 654336313. Since mobile money does not take note of sender, for purposes of accountability and transparency any contributor should immediately call the same number. A young lady will take the call and note the identity of the donor. Every day from this Tuesday the daily list of donors will be published on all journalists’ platforms. This exercise is scheduled to end on the 26 of January, 2018 and our trip to Nigeria should take place within one week from then. Thanks for your generosity and cooperation.

ASHU NYENTY- CRTV( Spokesperson for the initiative)

From the evidence handed to our London desk, we understand that the money paid to Mr Ashu Nyenty is to fund a fake campaign to lure Ambazonians to return home and be arrested and killed and above all, to keep making a mockery of Sisiku Ayuk Tabe, the Interim Head of State of the Federal Republic of Ambazonia.

“On earlier occasions they had made futile attempts to get Jesus into their hands;c and they were naturally dubious as to the outcome of their later machinations. At this juncture they were encouraged and gladdened in their wicked plots by the appearance of an unexpected ally. Judas Iscariot, one of the Twelve, sought an audience with these rulers of the Jews, and infamously offered to betray his Lord into their hands.d Under the impulse of diabolic avarice, which, however, was probably but a secondary element in the real cause of his perfidious treachery, he bargained to sell his Master for money, and chaffered with the priestly purchasers over the price of the Savior’s blood. “What will ye give me?” he asked; “and they covenanted with him for thirty pieces of silver.”e”

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai

It is hard to tell which Ambazonian insiders gave the Nigerian secret police the tip to capture the IG. What is vital now is whether this abduction and interrogation will develop into an advantage for the IG or if the IG will succeed to convince Nigerian factions that a support of Ambazonian self-defense would be favorable for Nigeria in the longer run.

There are many parties, interests and stakeholders involved and we can only pray that the thing will turn out well for Ambazonia. But whatever the outcome may be, we can draw the following conclusion already:

1. a) The guerilla in SCYL and AGC and DoD and unknown independent must be supported and listened to and should stay compartmentalized, so that if one part of the IG or guerilla is defeated by the enemy the others are still able to operate and fill the gap
2. b) Federalists inside the IG or power mongers who do still collaborate with LRC or hostile Nigerians must be detected and removed from Ambazonian leadership
3. c) All Ambazonians must rise up against all who do foul compromise with LRC or unsupportive part of Nigeria
4. d) All former Scacuf groups should come together with IG and work out a better common strategy

By Christoph Hans Messner

Zimbabwe’s former commander of the army, General Constantino Chiwenga, has been chosen as a vice president of the country.

Chiwenga, 61, played a pivotal role in recent developments that ended President Robert Mugabe’s longtime rule.

His appointment is seen as a reward for the army’s instrumental role in ending Mugabe’s rule.

General Chiwenga took the oath of office in Harare on Thursday, pledging to be “faithful” to Zimbabwe, and to “obey, uphold and defend the constitution”.

At the event held on the lawns of the president’s official residence, Chiwenga, who is now one of the two country’s vice presidents, vowed to “work as a team”, and “deliver” whatever task given to him.

Chiwenga retired from the military last week, slightly over a month after the army temporarily took control of the country on November 15, culminating in Mugabe’s resignation six days later and a takeover by his deputy.

The new president Emmerson Mnangagwa, dozens of government officials, military and police chiefs as well as traditional leaders, attended the event.

Chiwenga’s rise to the country’s second most powerful job has further consolidated the military’s power in the politics of the southern African country.

Other top military officials were awarded ministerial posts earlier this month include ex-air force chief Marshal Perrance Shiri, who became the new agriculture minister, and a spokesman for the military, General Sibusiso Moyo, who was appointed as the new foreign minister.

Source: Presstv

Scuffles erupted in Uganda’s parliament on Tuesday over the presence of unidentified soldiers in the building as lawmakers debate a bill that could extend the president’s time in office.

Amid the chaos, the speaker adjourned proceedings to investigate the alleged presence of soldiers in prayer sanctuaries inside the building.

The bill under debate seeks to remove a constitutional clause that prevents anyone over the age of 75 from being president.

Critics say the bill would allow President Yoweri Museveni, who is 73 and ineligible to run again, to extend his rule, possibly for life.

Museveni has ruled since 1986.

A vote is expected this week.

A number of opposition lawmakers were forcibly removed from parliament in September, allegedly by soldiers with the presidential guard, while discussing the bill.

(Source: AP)

Battle lines were drawn on Monday for South Africa’s ANC as voting began to elect a new leader to succeed President Jacob Zuma as head of a party that has ruled since the end of apartheid but faced scandals and corruption allegations.

The vote is perhaps the most pivotal moment for the ANC since it launched black-majority rule under Nelson Mandela’s leadership 23 years ago. With scandal and graft accusations having tainted Zuma’s presidency, the party is deeply divided.

Whoever emerges at the helm of the African National Congress, a 105-year-old liberation movement that dominates Africa’s most industrialized economy, is likely to become the country’s next president after elections in 2019.

A total of 4,776 delegates began casting their ballots in the early hours of Monday, the ANC said, to select between Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa and Zuma’s preferred candidate, his ex-wife and former cabinet minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma.

Voting was still going on at 0530 GMT.

“Delegates are very exhausted,” an ANC source, who is a voting delegate, told Reuters. “I don’t know how they will run today’s sessions.”

Ramaphosa and Dlamini-Zuma were the only candidates nominated for the ANC leadership at a conference in Johannesburg on Sunday night.

In a boost to Ramaphosa, courts ruled that officials from some provinces seen as supporting Dlamini-Zuma had been elected illegally and were barred from the conference.

A winner had been expected to be announced on Sunday, but long delays led to the vote being pushed back repeatedly.

ANC spokeswoman Khusela Sangoni said voting was expected to be completed by midday and results announced later on Monday.

On Saturday, Zuma announced plans to raise subsidies for tertiary colleges and universities, a move analysts said was timed to appeal to the party’s more populist members allied to Dlamini-Zuma, the first woman nominated as an ANC presidential candidate.

Zuma has faced allegations of corruption since he became head of state in 2009 but has denied any wrongdoing.

Ramaphosa, a former trade union leader who became a businessman and is now one of the richest people in South Africa, has vowed to fight corruption and revitalize the economy, a message hailed by foreign investors.

Dlamini-Zuma pledged during her campaign to tackle the racial inequality that has persisted since the end of white-minority rule.

Ramaphosa drew the majority of nominations from party branches scattered across the country. But the complexity of the leadership race makes it uncertain he will win the final count.

(Source: Reuters)

Burundian President Pierre Nkurunziza has launched a campaign to promote a referendum to change the constitution that could extend his rule over the landlocked East African country until 2034.

Addressing a crowd of thousands of farmers in the central district of Gitega on Tuesday, Nkurunziza threatened those who sought to undermine the referendum slated for early 2018.

“We take this opportunity to warn those who want to sabotage this project, whether by speech or actions,” Nkurunziza said. “It will be a red line.”

“It’s the day you’ve been waiting for,” Nkurunziza said.

Nkurunziza’s administration adopted a plan in October to revise the constitution that, if passed by the referendum, would allow him to serve another two seven-year terms from 2020.

Opposition activists have already denounced the project they say will be the “funeral” of the country’s 2000 peace agreement. The deal ended a 13-year civil war in which more than 300,000 people were killed.

The start of the campaign comes a day after the government launched a fundraising drive for elections in 2020, presented as “voluntary.” The move, however, has been condemned by rights groups as “organized robbery.”

Burundi has faced deadly political turmoil since April 2015, when President Nkurunziza announced plans to seek a disputed third term that he ultimately won.

The violence claimed between 500 and 2,000 lives, according to differing tolls from the UN and civil society groups, while more than 400,000 Burundians have fled the country.

In September, a UN commission of inquiry report said crimes against humanity, including killings and sexual violence, were still being committed in Burundi and it asked the International Criminal Court (ICC) to open an investigation as soon as possible.

According to the report, alleged perpetrators include top officials in Burundi’s National Intelligence Services and police force, military officials and members of the youth league of the ruling party, known as Imbonerakure.

The ICC in November decided to launch an investigation into atrocities committed in Burundi, despite the country’s pullout from the international body last month.

Source: Presstv

The Southern Cameroons crisis which started in October 2016 with demands by Southern Cameroonian lawyers and teachers has taken a turn for the worse, as Dr. Cho Ayaba’s Ambazonia Defense Forces and Boko Haram are exploring ways of cooperating with a view to making things terribly messy for the government of Cameroon which still holds that the Anglophone problem which is a typical political issue can only be addressed militarily.

Speaking to an ADFmilitary official who elected anonymity, it is clear that the days ahead would be very unsettling for Cameroonians. The general advised that they were capable of striking fear into the minds of Cameroonians as a means of dragging the aging government to the negotiating table. He pointed to the killing of more than 20 government troops over the last month, especially in Manyu Division, advising that their hit-and-run tactics were paying off.

He stressed that they would continue to act like the Vietcong until the government of Cameroon found the need to call for inclusive dialogue as requested by the Vatican and the international community. He said the placing of bombs in markets, churches, mosques and social gatherings was not excluded, adding that all was fair in love and war.

He pointed out that the killing of many government army troops was proof that ADF was capable of inflicting significant damage to Cameroon’s forces that are neither well trained nor motivated to fight a war that is unconventional. He stressed that his troops would continue to hit the government where it hurt the most, adding that what will soon befall the country will reduce what has so far happenedto a dress rehearsal.

He urged government troops to resist killing ordinary Cameroonians as that would only lead to the killing of soldiers, adding that many more families would soon be without their loved ones as the conflict would be taking a different turn. He urged Cameroonians, especially Francophones, to join the struggle in order to rid themselves of a man who had robbed them of their dignity.

Asked about rumors of an impending alliance with Boko Haram, the ADF officer laughed off the rumor, adding that the most important issue facing Cameroon for now was the Biya government that was without a vision and no sense of direction. He stressed that while the main objective as stated by Dr. Lucas Cho Ayabawas to liberate Southern Cameroons from the exploitative relation with East Cameroon, it would be good if the minority in Cameroon could bid the Biya regime goodbye and restore real democracy in Cameroon.

In this regard, he said an alliance with other enemies of the system would be welcome and that there were efforts underway to establish strategic alliances with whoever wants to see the Biya government out of power. “We are ready and prepared for any alliance that will help us achieve our goal,” he said. He pointed out that Boko Haram that was very active in the North was the outcome of poor governance, adding that it would be hard to eradicate the insurgency in the North due to deep-rooted systemic corruption.

Asked about Mr. Biya’s statement upon arrival in Yaounde on Thursday, November 30, 2017, about the killing of soldiers in Agborkem and Otu in Manyu Division, the general laughed and said those were empty threats that would not help to bring about peace in the region. He said they had heard that before and would not yield to such noise.

He said if Mr. Biya was coming out to make such a statement, it meant their tactics were having the right impact. He said for more than one year, the Cameroon leader had been acting as if all was fine in the country. He stressed that the country should be ready for the worse, as ADF was prepared to shock the world to prove that Mr. Biya and his troops cannot really govern the country.

He said they were looking forward to the actions Mr. Biya had promised, adding that more troops in Southern Cameroons meant more body bags heading back to French Cameroon as his men would know how to handle the ill-trained troops who are not even motivated to fight a war they know nothing about.

He revealed that ADF was looking to recruit Liberians who are seasoned fighters. He said their experience in Liberia, Sierra Leone and Cote d’Ivoire would surely come in handy in Cameroon. He also said that since most of them would be mercenaries and had no emotional attachment to Cameroonian troops, they would really achieve the goals that would be set for them.

He however called on the government to avert bloodshed by calling for genuine and inclusive dialogue. He said though both parties were still frozen in their positions, there was still an opportunity for things to be discussed at the negotiating.

He said time was fast running out, adding that it would be in everybody’s interest if a peaceful solution was sought, instead of using brute force that is sending many young men to an early grave. Cameroon could be an oasis of peace if its leaders could ensure that all grievances were dealt with in a democratic manner, he said.

Asked about their troops, he said they were doing fine, adding that Dr. Ayaba had just finished visiting their troops in Nigeria and other parts of the continent. He said their morale was high and that they were ready for action. He said for those who had a sense of history, they would remember that it was young men and women who had run into exile when Mobutu was slaughtering his own people who came back to chase him out of power.

“Our fighters may look like a ragtag military, but they are effective and reliable. We are not concerned about the government’s display of force. All of that is just grandstanding. We will continue to erode their confidence until they understand that we are a dangerous group that must liberate Southern Cameroons,” he stressed. He called on the government to look into the mirror of history so as to learn the lessons of life. He said Congolese (Zairean) rebels were once refugees and when they had learned the tricks, they had to come back to send Mr. Mobutu to an early grave.

He said those refugees in Nigeria would one day come back to bite the government of Cameroon as they are really bitter. He promised that before long, the world would be ridding itself of another African dictator who has brought death and destruction to his people. He said the attacks on the soldiers would be stepped up in the coming days, especially in Manyu Division, where there are no roads. He said those dirt roads would be booby traps that would consume army soldiers in the days ahead. He added that the vast border between Manyu Division and Nigeria provided them the perfect cover they needed to reduce the government to a laughing stock.

A Cameroon Concord News Production