More than 6.5 million Cameroonians will elect their next head of state this week but Paul Biya, president for 35 years, remains the front-runner despite a raging anglophone insurgency and jihadist threats. The central African nation of 25 million people has never staged polls amid insecurity so serious that the military is currently deployed to three of ten regions.

In the far north, soldiers are tackling the Nigeria-based jihadist group Boko Haram, while in the two anglophone regions its mission is to suppress a nascent secessionist insurgency. The separatists have threatened to disrupt voting in the areas where they operate, prompting security forces to fan out across those regions ahead of Sunday’s presidential election.

Yaounde has been adamant that polling will go ahead across the whole country, according to a minister, while Biya has downplayed the conflicts are mere “trouble”.

Violence in the English-speaking regions has flared since the beginning of the crisis at the end of 2016 while security forces have responded to protest action with heavy handed tactics and waves of arrests.

The unrest has killed more than 400 people this year, according to the International Crisis Group think-tank, and there has been an exodus from these regions ahead of the vote.

What began as a limited movement calling for greater economic opportunities and recognition of the English language quickly snowballed into a deadly fight between Cameroon’s military and heavily-armed separatists.

Attacks on symbols of Cameroonian authority including police killings and kidnappings of civil servants have mounted while some local officials have fled anglophone areas, fearing for their lives.

 ‘The force of experience’

Officials at the Elecam electoral commission have said that some polling stations will be “relocated” to ensure the integrity of the vote.

Despite the challenges facing the nation, Biya has drawn upon a vast network of support to ensure the ubiquity of his campaign.

Towns across the country are dotted with billboards emblazoned with Biya’s face, proclaiming him to be the “force of experience”.

At his first and so far only campaign stop, in Maroua in the far north at the weekend, Biya was feted by ministers, party flunkies and traditional leaders. His supporters appear on television daily to proclaim his accomplishments and to defend his record.

Biya’s vision for Cameroon, first published in book form in 1987, was reissued in September in time for the polls. Biya, who typically keeps a low profile, said at the Maroua campaign meeting that he would use “a firm hand and dialogue” to resolve the crisis in the anglophone region.

Eight opposition candidates will face off against Biya on Sunday – but all will confront an uphill struggle with at least one candidate accusing the incumbent of having an unfair advantage.

Unlike the three previous elections where veteran opposition chief Ni John Fru Ndi stood, the field of opposing candidates this year is wide open.

Dislodge ‘the Sphinx’

“It’s the first time in Cameroon’s history that there are opposition candidates with such clearly differentiated, truly different policies,” said Fred Eboko, a Cameroonian analyst at the French Research Institute for Development (IRD).

The candidate for the main opposition Social Democratic Front (SDF) party Joshua Osih is the contender carrying the torch for Ndi. Maurice Kamto is the insurgent candidate who has never before sought elected office and could benefit if the SDF struggles to mobilise its largely anglophone base in the conflict torn English-speaking regions.

Akere Muna, a renowned lawyer, benefits from strong overseas contacts and could benefit from protest votes cast against his better-known rivals.

No opposition coalition emerged ahead of campaigning for Sunday’s polls meaning that each of the eight challengers to Biya’s 35-year rule will have a herculean task to secure the numbers required to dislodge the leader known as “the Sphinx”.

As in 2011, an opposition upset victory looks highly unlikely. In that vote, Biya won 77.98% with both Washington and Paris warning that there were “numerous irregularities” in the conduct of the polls. The opposition, the Catholic church and a number of action groups have said they will deploy observers to deter and detect vote fraud.

Whoever wins at the ballot box, the victor will face immense challenges. Just 10% of working age people are in formal employment, one-third of Cameroonians live on less than $2.30 a day, and three in four people have only known Biya as their leader.

Source: News 24

The Nkafu Policy Institute, are pleased to release a scientific, nationwide opinion pollof adult Cameroonians on the state of the economy, perceptions on governance and the democratic process, and voter preferences for the 9 presidential candidates.  This survey, conducted with the support of the National Endowment for Democracy, interviewed 2,024 adult Cameroonians in all ten regions.

Interviews were conducted in 54 urban centers and 25 rural localities from September 10 to September 20, 2018.  All interviews were conducted before the official start of presidential campaigns.  This representative sample has a margin of error of +/- 3%.

The findings reveal a country in free fall. 79.1 percent of Cameroonians believe the economy is headed in the wrong direction. The poverty level is alarming. Less than 17.65% percent of Cameroonian adults earn more than 200,000 FCFA (~$400) dollars a month. Cameroonians are mostly concerned about the state of infrastructure in the country: electricity, water, bridges, roads, railways and sea ports.

Today, 90 percent of Cameroonians believe the road infrastructure is bad or very bad. A large majority of Cameroonians (82.17 %) want local administrators such as Governors to be elected by the people.

Cameroonians have very little confidence in the legislature (only 16.31 % support the work done at the national assembly and 14.48 at the senate); supreme court (only 18.15 % of support), central government (16.93 % of support); constitutional council (16.40 % of support).

The vast majority of Cameroonians (65.04%) believe the Anglophone conflict is the greatest threat to the security of the country and most do not support the government’s war in the Northwest and Southwest regions.

Only 7.84 % percent of Cameroonians support the use of force while 85.49 % percent believe dialogue or negotiation should be the way forward. Not surprising, the incumbent president, Paul Biya, is deeply unpopular after 36 years in power, managing only 29.82%percent of support.

Three opposition candidates stand out with the young 38-year Cabral Libii among the group with 11.24 percent. The other top two candidates being Mr. Maurice Kamto(12.65 percent) of the Cameroon Renaissance Movement and Mr. Joshua Osih(13.10 percent) of the Social Democratic Front.

The top three candidates were all within the margin of error. Mr. Libii’s is mostly supported among Francophone youths where he commands 19.37 percent support among those less than 35 years old. The biggest surprise is the very poor showing from Mr. Akere Muna, with a support of only 2.12 percent.

It is very clear today that if Cameroon’s opposition parties are seriously interested in winning the single-round presidential elections scheduled for October 7, 2018, coalescing between Mr. Libii, Mr. Kamto and Mr. Osih, or only two of the three would greatly increase their chances.

One must be worried as 49.65 percent of Cameroonians are concerned of the risk of post-electoral violence.

This survey, in very simplistic terms, shows a society in deep decay, with no sense of direction and very little agreement on the most basic processes. There is great concern that at the current pace the growing tensions between communities and various political actors may degenerate into popular uprisings as societal norms continue to be eroded.

There is great need, in the lead up to this presidential election, for a stronger involvement of the international community.  It would be deeply unfortunate should the October 7 presidential elections further plunge the country deeper in crises.  Strong actions must be taken to avert this real possibility. There is great yearning for a new consensus among Cameroonians, for a new beginning.

Source: Nkafu Policy Institute

Campaigns for the upcoming presidential elections are well underway and the CPDM presidential candidate who has not been campaigning travelled to Maroua to urge the northern population to grant him their votes.

While other presidential candidates have been all over the place highlighting what they will do if they are given power, Paul Biya, the man who has led the country for 36 years is counting more on a rigging machinery he has deployed.

The constitutional council, the body the publishes election results is replete with people loyal to him. ELECAM, the body that organizes elections, has already done its job and it has made sure that fewer opposition supporters have actually received their voter’s cards. While Mr. Biya was absent in the field, his surrogates have been doing their best to convince an electorate that is already aware of the ruling party’s dismal economic and political performance.

As the campaign progresses, it is clear that the English-speaking regions will not be part of the process. The heat is particularly on the CPDM, but hard core CPDM criminals are not backing off despite the threats from Southern Cameroonian fighters. They have huge skeletons in their cupboards and those skeletons may be exposed if they stop working for their party even in war-torn areas.

Like most people have said, the CPDM is a crime syndicate and its militants are using it for personal purposes.  Chief Moses Obenofunde and Mr Abey Napoleon Ntui seen here wearing military protective gear to campaign in Mamfe have once served as PAMOL’s general manager and Principal of Sar Ndekwai respectively. During their time at the various institutions, huge chunks of money cannot be accounted for.  Internal audits have been conducted and there is evidence that Chief. Obenofunde and Mr. Abey Napoleon Ntui are honest men when money is not involved.

To avoid jail time, they are using party loyalty as a shield against the law, but some party insiders who are not happy seeing these two men around the party are working underground for their arrest. It is obvious that after the election, they might be among those who would be appointed to a high position at the Kondengui Maximum Security Prison.

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai

John Nlom has five children and wants to keep them alive. When machete-wielding men attacked a nearby school this month in a suspected strike against the teaching of French, wounded students were rushed to hospitals while frightened parents decided to flee.

Nlom and his family piled onto one of the dozens of buses now leaving daily from the capital of Cameroon’s Southwest Region, joining thousands of civilians escaping bloody fighting between the government and Anglophone separatists who vow to disrupt next month’s presidential elections.

The government of the largely French-speaking country insists the Oct. 7 vote will be peaceful, even in the troubled English-speaking southwest and northwest where nearly 400 people have died. Nlom, a teacher, could not take that chance.

“The governor himself who is saying that people should stay back, that they are protected, he is moving around with soldiers protecting him,” Nlom said. “Will the soldiers protect all the people? That is the reason why I cannot stay.” He and his family, like many, have taken refuge in the French-speaking city of Douala.

President Paul Biya, one of Africa’s longest-serving leaders since taking power since 1982, vows to hold the country together.

The separatists, with support from some in the diaspora in the United States and elsewhere, are fighting to create an independent state they call “Ambazonia” in Cameroon’s English-speaking northwest and southwest regions.

Their movement grew out of dissatisfaction with what some English speakers, who make up about 20 percent of the country’s population, have called marginalization in the officially bilingual country. The blocking of the internet in English-speaking regions for months last year fed the frustrations.

The government describes the fighters as terrorists.

Weary civilians caught in the fighting have pleaded for peace. Women, saying they can no longer remain silent, have gathered for protests, saying the violence keeps children from their studies. At least 70 schools have been burned.

Last week, Muslim and Christian clerics announced they are afraid a wave of carnage could occur if peace is not found before the election. “We call on the diaspora to stop the hate speech communication that promotes violence, suspicion and fear among the people of Cameroon,” their declaration said.

The clerics asked both the military and armed groups to drop their guns and stop the killing, looting and burning that have sent nearly 200,000 civilians fleeing. The government, however, replied that only the separatists should drop their guns.

Attacks were reported in at least 20 towns and villages over the weekend, according to the country’s minister of territorial administration, Paul Atanga Nji. Casualty figures were not yet available, he said.

“We are happy that some of the terrorists have willfully handed their guns to the military and we have forgiven them,” he said. “I call on all those who are still in the bushes to drop their arms and make use of the ballot if they want a change.”

Human rights groups have accused both sides of abuses. Separatists have burned and crushed buses and used construction equipment to dig up roads in efforts to stop people from fleeing. Some people leaving English-speaking regions have said the military conducts searches on those trying to leave.

With the elections approaching, the tensions have grown. Separatists on Friday blew up a key bridge to stop campaign teams from reaching communities, authorities said.

“The only bridge linking the northwest regional capital, Bamenda, with other localities like Bui and Donga was destroyed by the terrorists,” said Lele L’Afrique Deben Tchoffo, governor of the Northwest Region. Thousands of passengers were stranded, he said.

In response, the military killed at least a dozen separatists near the northwestern town of Mbiame as they planted explosives to blow up another bridge, the governor said.

People who have fled the English-speaking regions will not be able to vote if they don’t return to the polling centers where they are registered, he warned.

In Cameroon’s French-speaking areas, campaign rallies kicked off over the weekend in defiance of the separatist threat.

“We should not fear them. We should brave the situation and go about campaigning. The government has deployed troops to protect everyone,” Prime Minister Philemon Yang told supporters in Bamenda while campaigning for the longtime president.

Biya is favored to win another seven-year term, as opposition parties did not succeed in negotiations to back a single candidate. Cameroon’s government has vowed that voting will take place nationwide.

“We have … created polling centers where voters can assemble and vote under the protection of the military,” said the chairman of the country’s electoral board, Enow Abrams Egbe.

AP

Dear Professor Elvis Ngolle Ngolle,

I have been observing you over the last two years since the Southern Cameroons problem made its way to the global arena and I have always felt I should talk to you, but seeing you on TV sharing your party-based theories and perspectives on this conflict, I have advised myself that it will be a waste of time, as you will never quit your greed-and power-driven monolithic thinking.

I understand you have to toe party lines, but I am sometimes taken aback by some of your statements. The Southern Cameroons crisis is a conflict that concerns every Cameroonian, especially those of us who are from that region. If you and I were living in a normal country, our job would be to bring pressure to bear on the government so that an alternative to the military violence could be sought.

As intellectuals, we are supposed to seek ways of getting both parties to the negotiating table so that some of the vexing issues could be addressed amicably. The issues raised by Southern Cameroonians do not have any party or political connotations. These are issues that have been around for decades and have been begging for a solution.

But from your behaviour and statements, it appears human life has no value and the supreme interest of the state must take a back seat to your selfish and egoistic interest.

What shocked me recently was your statement that supporters of your party in the Southwest region should use secret and supernatural powers to have your party’s message across in a region that is witnessing a lot of fighting and despicable violence.

From this statement, I know you have finally completed the process of masturbating intellectualism out of your system. I was even more surprised to hear you call on courageous young men and women to go from village to village to spread the false gospel that has made of you a disrespected professor.

If you so love this country and your party’s political philosophy, why are you not bringing back your own kids from the U.S.A for them to come and help with your efforts at spreading your party’s heresy in such a dangerous region?

Some of you have decided that our country must be ruined before you leave this world. Your greed and hunger for power have transformed you into a buffoon. For years, your likes have been living in a bubble and that bubble has been burst by Southern Cameroonians.

The people of the southwest no longer have faith in you. You are not representing them and be advised that any decisions you and others take on our behalf will be rejected by the people of our region.

Peter Mafany Musonge, Chief Tabetando and you constitute an axis of evil that is spreading pain, suffering and death in the Southwest region. Your acts will come with karmic consequences and I hope you are aware of this. It is not too late to make amends.

As South-westerners, we are a liberal and a forgiving people. We will be welcoming you to the fold the day you shed your greed and understand that life is more interesting when everybody has a smile on their face.

We are not a vindictive people. Change and we will lift the sanctions we have imposed on you. You have been dinning, wining and dancing with the devil for too long. Make that change and live a decent and simple life.

I look forward to seeing a different you.

Yours Sincerely,

Dr. Joachim Arrey

About the Author: The author of this letter has served as a translator, technical writer, journalist and editor for several international organizations and corporations across the globe. He studied communication at the University of Leicester in the United Kingdom and technical writing in George Brown College, Toronto, Canada. He also studied translation at the Advanced School of translators and Interpreters (ASTI) in Buea, as well as Languages and Linguistics at the University of Calabar, Calabar, Nigeria. He holds a Ph.D.

Cameroon will head to the polls on October 7, to decide who will captain the country for another 7 years. According to an official list published by Elections Cameroon, 28 candidacy files were received by the commission that was charged with receiving files at the ELECAM headquarters and in Regional Delegations.

The elections governing body, ELECAM, on August 7, 2018 published a list of 9 candidates including the incumbent president, Paul Biya who is seeking another 7 years term to continue his 35 years rule over the country.

This year’s presidential poll seems to be very different from previous elections the country has witnessed considering the reduced number of candidates to take part in the elections and the insecurity which has plagued the country for over two years.

Get to know the Presidential Candidates

Biya will be facing political amateurs in the upcoming elections and an opposition which has failed despite several attempts to present a united front to challenge his candidacy.

Joshua Osih was picked on February 24 as the flag-bearer of the main opposition party, the Social Democratic Front, to replace Ni John Fru Ndi who has over the years been the strongest candidate to face Biya.

Akere Muna, and a host of others; Libii Li Ngue Cabril, Matomba Serge Espoir, Kamto Maurine and Njifor Afamwi will also be testing the waters for the very first time.

Paul Barthélemy Biya’a bi Mvondo

Paul Biya, Cameroonian native who hail from the South was born on 13 February 1933, in the village of Mvomeka’a.

He studied at the Lycée General Leclerc, Yaounde and the Lycée Louis-le-Grand, Paris and went on to the Institut des hautes études d’Outre-Mer where he graduated in 1961 with a Higher Education Diploma in Public Law.

He became a bureaucrat in his late 20’s under President Ahmadou Ahidjo.

He was Chargé de Mission at the Presidency of the Republic upon his return from Paris in October 1962 and Director of Cabinet of the Minister of National Education, Youth Affairs and Culture in January 1964.

He was named Director of Cabinet of the Minister of National Education, Youth Affairs and Culture in July 1965 and later Director of the Civil Cabinet of the President in December 1967

While still serving as Director of the Civil Cabinet, Biya was appointed Secretary-General of the Presidency of the Republic in January 1968.

He gained the rank of Minister in August 1968 and the rank of Minister of State in June 1970, while remaining Secretary-General at the Presidency.

Following the creation of a unitary state in 1972, he became Prime Minister of Cameroon on 30 June 1975.

Ahidjo unexpectedly announced his resignation on 4 November 1982, and Biya accordingly succeeded him as President of Cameroon on 6 November.

Joshua Osih

Joshua Osih joined the Social Democratic Front (SDF) in March 1991 in Douala.

In 2002 he was elected regional chairman of the Social Democratic Front for the South West region.

In 2006, he was elected 2nd Vice Chairman of the party.

In 2012 and 2018 he was voted in both instances as 1st Vice Chairman of the party. At the 2018 Extra-ordinary convention of the party that concludes the party’s primaries, he was chosen as the SDF’s presidential candidate for the 2018 presidential election of Cameroon to be held in October 2018.

Osih holds an MBA in Leadership and Sustainability, and has more than 25 years of experience in the aviation industry, notably in operations and management.

His is an established entrepreneur in Cameroon and is the founder and managing director of the notable companies including Camport PLC and Africa Travel Management.

Osih is a Member of the Cameroon Parliament for the Wouri Centre constituency in Douala.

He serves both as Vice President of the Finance and Budget Committee of the National Assembly, and Special Rapporteur for the National Assembly.

He is Deputy General Rapporteur in charge of state income, Vice Coordinator of the Hope for the Youth caucus, and a member of multiple parliamentary friendship groups.

Born on 9 December 1968, the 49-year-old lawmaker and native of the South West Region is married to Tina Osih with 3 sons.

Akere Muna

Akere Tabeng Muna is a Cameroonian lawyer who was born on August 1952 in the North-West region of Cameroon.

He obtained a Bachelor of Science degree in International Relations in 1975 from the American University in Washington, D.C. and later moved to England, where he joined the Honourable Society of Lincoln’s Inn.

After he was called to the Bar in England in 1978, he returned to Cameroon, and joined the legal practice of his brother, Bernard Muna. In 1984, the legal practice was converted into a law firm called Muna, Muna & Associates.

In 1997, he assumed the presidency of the Cameroon Bar Association after a landslide victory.

In 2000, Akere Muna founded the Cameroon chapter of the anti-corruption watchdog, Transparency International.

In 2004, Akere was elected to the Board of Directors of Transparency International and was later designated as the Coordinator of the Coalition of African Chapters of TI.

In 2005, he was elected Vice-Chair of the Board of Directors of TI and he stepped down in 2014, after serving the maximum number of terms.

He was thereafter appointed by the Board of Directors of TI as Chair of the International Anti-Corruption Conference (IACC) Council.

Akere Muna was a founding member of the Pan African Lawyers Union (PALU), and in July 2005, he was unanimously elected president of the organisation by the heads of the various African bar associations.

In September 2008, Akere Muna was president of ECOSOCC and in 2012, he became a member of the High Level Panel on Illicit Financial Flows from Africa, a body established by the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa

On February 11, 2013, the Board of Directors of the African Development Bank (AfDB) approved the appointment of Akere Muna as Sanctions Commissioner of the African Development Bank.

Akere Muna is married to Beverly Bird, and a father of two daughters, Lydia Muna and Kandi Muna.

Adamou Ndam Njoya

Adamou Ndam Njoya is a Cameroonian politician, lawyer, author, and professor.

He is the President of the Cameroon Democratic Union (UDC), an opposition party

He served as the Minister of National Education from 1977 to 1980, and has been the Mayor of Foumban since 1996.

From 1997 to 2007 he was a Deputy in the National Assembly.

He became Secretary to the Minister of Foreign Affairs from 1969 to 1970 and joined the faculty of law at the University of Yaoundé in 1970.

Njoya worked for the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace in Cameroon as director of the diplomatic training program from 1970 to 1972.

He was instrumental in the creation of the International Relations Institute of Cameroon (IRIC) where he served as its first director from 1972 to 1975.

He became a member of the Economic and Social Council of Cameroon in 1974, and he was then appointed as Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs on 30 June 1975.

In December 1977, Ndam Njoya was appointed Minister of National Education. In July 1980, he was appointed Minister Delegate at the Presidency for General Inspection of State and Administrative Reforms.

Dismissed from government in 1982, Ndam Njoya focused on his writing and teaching as well as donating his time to philanthropic endeavors.

He later served as a member of the Executive Bureau of UNESCO from 1985 to 1989, and was the President of the Jury of the Grand Prix of Literary Associations 2014.

Ndam Njoya was born at Njika, Foumban, West Province, Cameroon, on 8 May 1942.

He is a holder of an MA and a PhD degree in public international law and political science at the University of Paris (Panthéon).

He studied diplomacy at the Institut International d’Administration Publique (IIAP), followed by three internships, with the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs, with the French Embassy in London, and with International Organizations at the United Nations European office in Geneva.

Culled from Africa News

The unending gory pictures from Southern Cameroons for the past two years for me is stretching my understanding to its limit. Yes, Southern Cameroonians had the “temerity”, as always, to rise up against long years of marginalisation and second-class citizenship. Yes, they went down on the streets to protest, an inalienable right of all citizens in any country that lays claim to civilised governance. Yes, they took up arms to defend themselves when the government response to their protests was excessive use of military force. But no, I do not understand the extent to which a government can come down so hard on its citizens.

Someone help me understand how for two years running, a government worth its name can be mercilessly mowing down its citizens in silence. Defenceless boys and girls are being quietly decimated on our streets and in our homes (the latest case of Njikwa is telling). How has it become normal to sit idly by and watch our kith and kin being killed in total indifference? How normal has it become for a whole part of the country to be bleeding while we look the other way? The economy of the region has ground to a screeching halt. Our children can no longer school, for want of security. I read with horror the various communiqués from schools in the Southern Zone requesting parents to come collect their children from school. How long shall this sacrifice continue while a so-called President is more absorbed by elections than by peace and security in a territory we “hired” him to protect? What government sits quiet for two years while the country is being torn apart? What government watches idly as the country slides irreversibly into chaos?

Our farms have been abandoned. Businesses have crumbled. Unemployment is now rising at an alarming rate. The people have lost their sources of livelihood. Starvation is staring this region straight in the face and before long, the region will be needing real humanitarian assistance, South Soudan-style, not the contrived humanitarian assistance which the same government has used to con people out of their meagre resources. Granted, the authorities in the country have never been known for their sense of forward thinking, either out of sheer incompetence or poor planning. But, it does not take a degree in economics to anticipate the impending doom. It will come and when it does, it will be ugly.

Please, help me to understand how the notion of dialogue became a foreign and strange notion in Cameroon. Help me to understand how it became difficult for the government to talk to its citizens. Someone please explain to me how empathy and sympathy exited from our national space.

Please, help to understand, as I am lost, perplexed and frankly frightened. I am frightened because the people we thought were human beings capable of reasoning and empathy have, sadly, turned out to be cold-blooded killers. I can bet my bottom franc that had it not been for social media, the scale of the genocide would have been more horrendous.

I am scared because within the country, we have sympathizers and enablers of this ongoing genocide, while the international community is deafeningly quiet in its complicity… We have heard the usual ineffectual noises from international organisations and other “brotherly” countries. Beyond these cliché statements, radio silence. While the killing machine turns and gathers more momentum. And, it is getting worse. We will get up one day and realise that our villages and towns have become veritable ghost towns…

I am still seeking answers…

Shey Kukih Mansah

As Cameroon prepares to go to the polls on October 7, 2018, insecurity in the country poses a major constraint which may hamper the smooth conduct of the polls.

The country now faces violence in three regions: the Far North, where Boko Haram continues to mount attacks, as well as the Northwest and Southwest, where an Anglophone insurgency emerged in 2017.

The crisis in the Anglophone regions is rapidly developing into full armed insurgency, following the Cameroonian security forces’ violent repression on 22 September and 1 October, 2017.

Several small “self-defence” groups (the Tigers, Ambaland forces and Vipers,) now operate alongside two armed militias: the Ambazonia Defence Forces (ADF) and the Southern Cameroons Defence Forces.

Pro-independence fighters, who had earlier declared the elections banned in these regions recently called for a total shutdown from September 20 to October 10 in a bid to completely frustrate efforts by the government to carry out elections in the troubled regions.

According to messages allegedly from the fighters, people have been urged to stock their houses with basic items which can sustain them throughout the no circulation period. The message constraints movement only within the English speaking areas while inter-urban movements to and from other French parts of the country were prohibited.

Gripped with fear and amidst the growing uncertainty, denizens in the regions are now fleeing to neighboring towns for safety. The massive exodus has forced the government to take stringent measures to restrict movement out of the regions. A communique signed by the regional delegate of the North West region on September 18 indicated that people without valid reasons will not be allowed to leave the town.

Yaounde took a hard line, rejecting demands made by the fighters in the early phase of the conflict and ordered a complete crackdown after the separatists issued a symbolic declaration of independence last October 1.

The elections governing body has however assured that elections will take place in these regions while noting that the issue of security for all stakeholders in the process was the responsibility of the government.

Culled from Africa News

Two years ago, when the then-called Anglophone problem began, few predicted that it would snowball into a full-blown war with its attendant bloodletting. No one thought, a mere strike initiated by lawyers and teachers would, two years down the line, culminate in this horror that has become the ecosystem of the citizens of Southern Cameroons. From Nkambe right down to Mundemba, the pain of the people, who only set out to demand freedom and dignity for their lives and those of their children, rings stridently across the land. Every day, we are served with gory pictures of young lives prematurely cut short, young boys and girls maimed to the point of non-recognition. Few imagine the sorry plight of the families (some with nurslings) hiding out in forests, exposed to the hazard of the elements and the dangers of wild creeping things and carnivorous animals. I cry for the souls of these innocent lives and the ordeal of my people now forced to share the forests with animals!

It is difficult to attempt an explanation for this inexorable slide into mayhem; because there were opportunities to ward off this crisis or nib it in the bud, so to speak. Compliance with the various calls for civil disobedience and “ghost town” operations, open defiance of authority as well as the unprecedented public display of anger across Southern Cameroons back on 22nd September 2017 were alarm bells ringing deafeningly, alerting the authorities to the volcanic anger that was boiling underneath, ready to the blow up the country at its seams. Calls for the return to the federal system which, up until 1972, had held the country together in an otherwise beautiful experiment in bi- and multi-culturalism, were greeted with absolute disdain and arrogance. The moderate leadership of the movement was thrown into jail with trumped-up and, frankly, ridiculous charges of terrorism, hostility against the state and any other ludicrous charge that their Jacobin minds could conjure up. I cried then, as I knew this was the onset of trouble.

Now, trouble is here. It took the shape of the hundreds of lost lives of protesters who, tired of being treated with absolute contempt, decided on 1st October 2017 to “symbolically” declare their independence from La République du Cameroun, hoping to draw national and international attention to their plight. Instead, in return, terror was unleashed on them with hundreds shot dead, and thousands arrested and thrown into jail. Since then, life for them has become a daily unending nightmare, the stuff of horror. Gunshots and screams of fright are now the soundtrack their daily reality. Villages have been completely razed, houses and hospitals torched, and old and vulnerable elderly persons roasted in their homes and sickbeds. I shudder at the thought of the strain, agony and excruciating pain these old ones experienced as, helpless, they slowly burnt to death. I cry! Yes, I weep for them.

I weep because, instead of negotiating with the people, the government of La République engaged a full-scale war of attrition nay, a scorched-earth blitzkrieg on an innocent people. The army was given a “shoot-to-kill-on-mere-suspicion” order, otherwise known in French as ‘l’ordred’ouverture de feu”. What this means is that they were given the green light to shoot at anything and anybody if it/he/she poses a “threat”. They are not required to furnish any explanation or justification for their actions. The manifestation of this blanket order is visible throughout Southern Cameroons. This same tactic was used during the days of the “Maquis” for good effect. In other words, it worked then; why should it not work now? The only drawback for this soldiery and this barbaric tactic is the social media to which their cruelties are systematically uploaded and, lo and behold, live streamed, even by the perpetrators themselves.

Multiple calls for dialogue have been royally ignored. When attempts are made, it is in the form of make-belief missions fielded to the region by surrogates of a regime that have been rejected outright by the population. Enormous sums have been squandered hoodwinking the international community that there is some modicum of dialogue initiated. Huge amounts of taxpayer francs are squandered by government on the “war effort”. Needless to say these sums are lining the pockets of the select few for whom this crisis is a gold mine, irrespective of the lives lost and the untold suffering inflicted on the people. Countless horror stories come to light every day of the havoc wreaked by these soldiers on a hapless population. The recent pictures of droves of people attempting to flee this mayhem are heartrending. The response of the authorities has been to dissuade, nay, block these helpless people from flight, requiring them to justify their movement. In a country they claim is “one and indivisible”! All of this in an attempt to obfuscate the scale of the disaster and hide it from the eyes of the world. Yes, I cry…

For those who still think secession or, better still, separation is a physical thing, have another think coming. It starts from the mind. And the actions of the authorities and their forces of (dis)order are driving the two Cameroons further apart. Whatever the outcome of this crisis, the road to reconciliation will be long, tortuous, if not impossible.

Shey Kukih Mansah

The South West governor, Okala Bilai, who once called the people of his region “dogs”, has been pleading with them not to leave the region. Over the last week, residents of the two English-speaking regions have been leaving the place following threats by Southern Cameroonian fighters to implement a strict movement of goods and persons within the region from September 16, 2018 to October 7, 2018.

Campaigns for presidential elections scheduled for October 7, are currently underway and Southern Cameroonians fighters have vowed to disrupt an election they consider as foreign.  While other candidates are on the ground canvassing for votes, the incumbent, Paul Biya, is in a Swiss hospital seeking better healthcare.  It is generally held that Mr. Biya, considered by the ruling crime syndicate as its natural candidate, will not campaign but will emerge as the winner in an election that has already been rigged.

Mr. Biya’s heart and prostate have been an issue to the 86-year-old who still wants to rule the country for the next seven years. Known as the “monarch”, Mr. Biya was in China recently for the China-Africa Summit where he thought he could cajole Chinese to lend him some money.

But things are not working out well for the ailing monarch. The Chinese are skeptical about lending money to a dying man and the hold that after presiding of his country’s destiny for 36 years, Mr. Biya has nothing to show for his long ruler ship.

There are no world-class hospitals in his country, no good roads, and the country’s railway system has simply collapsed. For more than three decades, the narcissistic monarch has been using his country’s treasury as his personal ATM.

When traveling abroad, Mr. Biya always has more than 50 persons in his entourage and all of these people are lodged in five-star hotels.  Besides, members of his entourage, the monarch also uses expensive escort services when he is abroad. His love for young girls is costing the country an arm and a leg.

He has a Ghanaian doctor in Geneva who screens all the young ladies he uses to satisfy his carnal desires.  It is alleged that he dislikes preservatives, which is why the ladies are thoroughly screened for HIV and other communicable diseases.

Worst of all, the monarch, noted for his incompetence and manipulation, has plunged his country into a deep economic crisis and a long civil war that has already resulted in the killing of some 4,000 Cameroonians, including young army soldiers.

The Southern Cameroons crisis that started as a demonstration by teachers and lawyers has taken a turn for the worse. The adverse impact of the conflict is now spilling over into East Cameroon and this is a nightmare to government officials who are scared of a general revolt in East Cameroon.

Food and housing prices have gone up and many cities that are receiving these displaced persons do not have the proper infrastructure to deal with such a situation. According to a Douala City Hall official, the migration of Southern Cameroonians to the city of Douala is not only costly; it is also a major risk.

He pointed out that among the displaced could the fierce fighters who may use the situation to wreak havoc on innocent citizens in the city. He regretted that the government was letting this situation to spiral out of control, adding that if immediate action was not taken, the entire country could become a war zone.

By Kingsley Betek in Buea