Cameroon

7, March 2017

Philemon Yang Bamenda mission meets a Southern Cameroons stonewall ⁰

Prime Minister Philemon Yang has been told that schools can only resume if the Biya Francophone government releases all Anglophone detainees, demilitarized Southern Cameroons and reinstate internet services. The Biya emissary who started a tour of the Bamenda Province of Southern Cameroons in the Mezam constituency had insisted that parents should send their children to school.

Hon. Wilfred Fusi Naamukong was the prophetic voice of the people in the forum that held at the Bamenda Congress Hall. The MP dismissed claims by the Head of Government that the Yaoundé regime was engaged in broader dialogue with the Anglophone communities.

Yang Philemon angered participants at the meeting when he opined that the government ordered the massive arrest of Southern Cameroonians and militarized the territory because of the hostile attitude of some locals. The meeting at the congress hall grouped elites, parliamentarians, traditional rulers, head teachers, principals, and parents but failed to come out with any concrete solution to the Anglophone crisis.

Philemon Yang will be visiting other administrative units of the Bamenda province such as Boyo, Momo, Menchum, Ngo-Ketundjia, Donga Mantung and Bui.

CIN

5, March 2017

Biya’s henchman dies aged 81 ⁰

One of the Roving Ambassadors at the Presidency of the Republic, Joseph-Charles Doumba has died in Yaoundé, at the age of 81. Joseph-Charles Doumba served in both the Ahidjo and the Biya regimes. Doumba, the Francophone political baron, a political analyst and CPDM Party strategist, died of complications from Cancer, diabetes and a stroke on Sunday the 5^th of March 2017.

Doumba was a cabinet minister and also the Secretary General of the ruling CPDM party and was well-known on the lecture circuit on Prof Edzoa Titus’s resignation and appeared to be President Biya’s most trusted ally. He began his career as a civil administrator and moved into politics.

Originally from the East region precisely in Bertoua, Joseph-Charles Doumba was born and reared in Yabassi, the capital of Nkam Division in the Littoral region.

Cameroon Intelligence Report

1, March 2017

CPDMization of Cameroon’s political parties: Bello Bouba gets another mandate ⁰

The National Chairman of the National Union for Democracy and Progress (NUDP) Bello Bouba Maigari has won a vote of confidence from members of his party. He was re-elected at the 6th ordinary congress of the party that held in Yaounde on 25th February 2017. Bello Bouba Maigari has been National Chairman of the party since 1992 and has been given the mandate to serve the NUDP for the next five years.

The vote of confidence was given by members during the congress that brought together party members from the ten Regions of the Country. The meeting that took place at the Congress Hall in Yaounde was attended by representatives from friendly political parties including the CPDM, SDF, UPC, FSNC, UPF, MP, MDP.

Apart from the election, party members also evaluated the activities of the NUDP during the last five years. They also drafted a road-map for the forth coming Municipal, Legislative and Presidential Elections to be organized in 2018.

Chairman, Bello Bouba Maigari during the event, called on government to improve the electoral system in the country. He suggested that the biometric system be extended to the polling stations; that government institute a single ballot paper system and that the voting age be brought down to 18 years.

He also said that the present appointed Government Delegates be replaced by elected Mayors. Discussing the current security, socio-political and economic situation of the country, Bello Bouba Maigari lauded President Biya’s engagement in fighting Boko Haram on the one hand.

He encouraged government to resort to dialogue in dealing with the Anglophone Crisis on the other hand. He hailed the creation of the National Commission for the Promotion of Bilingualism and Multiculturalism urging President Biya to appoint its members as soon as possible to uphold Cameroon’s unity in diversity.

CRTV

1, March 2017

Francophone political party leaders call on Biya to reject federalism ²

Several Francophone opposition political parties that attended the 6th Ordinary Congress of the National Union for Democracy and Progress (UNDP) on February the 25th, 2017 in Yaoundé have rejected the idea of federalism currently being championed by some Southern Cameroonians including the leadership of the Social Democratic Front, SDF. The parties currently in the government under an obscure organization known as the Presidential Majority made a mockery of the Anglophone problem and echoed their opposition to federalism.

The Secretary General of the Union des Populations du Cameroon (UPC), Basile Louka, opined that there was need for Cameroon to remain united, democratic, decentralized through dialogue. For his part, Henri Hogbe Nlend, Chairman of the General Council of the same party and a former cabinet minister of the Biya regime painted federalism as divisive. He observed that: “We have not fought for Cameroon to be united and to come now and be fighting for it to be disunited.” Both UPC leaders had in the 1990s condemned the modus operandi of the unitary state, when the party’s Secretary General Augustine Federick Kodock singlehandedly dismissed six parliamentarians from the National Assembly and from the party.

The position of the Progressive Movement was also identical to that of the UPC. According to its coordinator, Jean Jacques Ekindi, “the unitary form of government remains the only tool capable of saving Cameroon.” Another speaker was the leader of the Front for the National Salvation of Cameroon (FSNC), Issa Tchiroma Bakary, who also moonlights as Minister of Communication and government spokesman. He failed to state the position of his party but urged “the President of the Republic not to shrink from any difficulty in his search for solutions to the problems threatening Cameroon. The UNDP leader, Maigari Bello Bouba in his speech also pointed out that federalism was not the solution to the problem.

By Rita Akana

1, March 2017

Federalism: Can the SDF sway the majority? ¹

For more than three months, West Cameroon has witnessed demonstrations which started with lawyers asking for a translation of legal documents in the country into English to reflect the country’s bilingual nature after repeated attempts by common law lawyers to get the government to understand that the country was a bi-jural and bilingual. Stuck in an old and colonial mentality, the government dispatched the police to unleash a reign of terror on peace-loving lawyers who were simply seeking a system that would enable them to be more effective and efficient by making their submissions in English, a language they master better. The strike was later joined by teachers who held that it was intellectually wrong for English-speaking students to be taught by French-speaking teachers. The matter was made worse when University of Buea authorities erroneously imposed a CFAF 10,000 bill on already frustrated students who thought it was time for them to meet with University authorities to have the issues ironed out. Again, university authorities, like their Yaounde masters, made the unpardonable mistake of ordering armed policemen to enter university grounds and ensure that peace reigned at all cost. Many students were brutalized, with many young and innocent girls made to drink raw sewage. As the students beat a retreat, the brutal policemen pursued them to their hostels, where many young girls were brutally raped. The violence then spread to Bamenda, the Anglophone region’s biggest city, and it took a turn for the worst.

As the violence spread across the entire region, West Cameroonians,who have been living with the belief thatthe Yaounde government has put in place a well-oiled marginalization mechanism against them,used the opportunity to call for a federal state that would enable them run their own part of the country like their parents had done prior to the declaration of a unitary state in 1972, with some ‘free radicals’ calling for secession and restoration of statehood. Many clearly curse the hour to which they were born to such a destiny, but rather than spend time crying over spilled milk, they believe the time has come for them to right the wrongs of the past by calling for a federal system or total independence from French-speaking Cameroon. The government has been scrambling for solutions, even going as far as creating a bilingualism and multiculturalism commission to placate the striking West Cameroonians. According to the government’s spokesperson, the government is prepared to discuss all the issues raised by the frustrated and disgruntled Anglophone minority, including federalism and secession, but the government seems to be bereft of an interface as West Cameroonians insist that any dialogue can only be held with their jailed leaders and that without such dialogue, the ghost towns and school closures will continue indefinitely. They insist that a first step towards meaningful dialogue must include the unconditional release of their jailed leaders – AgborBalla and Fontem –as well as all West Cameroonians arrested illegally and trucked to Yaounde where they do not have any family members and cannot speak French.

As the government scrambled for solutions, using mass arrests and intimidation as its weapons of choice, the more than one million Anglophone Diaspora decided to jump into fray to upset the government’s apple cart, especially as gruesome videos of the government’s atrocities popped up on the Internet, to provide strong support, clear direction and effective guidance to a hastily formed Consortium that comprises the various trade unions that have come together to present a common front against a government that only believes in a strong language and an iron fist. The emergence of compromising videos causedthe government to switch off Internet connection in the Northwest and Southwest regions of the country. The government holds that the Internet is a development tool that must be used judiciously, but what it does not tell the public is that this new technology is a key working tool that has created many jobs and has exposed many governments that have mowed down their own citizens. Its disconnection will render many West Cameroonians unemployed. Itwill also goa long way in radicalizing the Anglophone minority which clearly believes that the country is today divided along linguistic and Internet lines, though the government has been pointing out that Cameroon is one and indivisible.

While West Cameroonians have been rolled back to the dark ages, the Diaspora has been working overtime to make sure government officials continue to lose sleep. The disconnection of the Internet and the mass arrests that ensued have not deterred the country’s Anglophone minority from bringing its plight to the global arena. In North America, major cities such as New York, Washington, Toronto and Ottawa have all witnessed huge demonstrations. In Europe, strategic cities like London, Paris, Berlin and Rome have been the theaters of massive demonstrations that have left many people wondering whether Cameroon, the erstwhile oasis of peace in an island of chaos, can actually weather the storm that is sweeping through this country of about 25 million inhabitants. The Diaspora’s objective has, over the last two months, been to raise, awareness of the Anglophone minority’s plight in Cameroon. It has clearly and successfully given the government a bad name and image, with human rights organizations calling on the government to release the leaders of the Consortium who, in many minds, are being held illegally.

The outrage increased by a notch following the kidnapping of a Supreme Court judge, Justice Paul Ayah. A clear indication that the government is not prepared to go to the negotiating table to sincerely discuss with the Anglophone minority’s leaders, most of whom are languishing in filthy and sub-standard jails. The more the government comes up with more dissuasive and oppressive measures and methods, the more the people of the country’s Anglophone region dig their feet. The illegal arrests and incarceration of the Consortium’s leaders has, at best, been counter-productive. They have only served as fodder for the cannons of the regime’s opponents as they seem to give the impression that the government has been pouring highly inflammable fuel into its own burning house. Students, farmers, mechanics, bricklayers and other professionals have all willingly joined the movement for a federal system of government,with all West Cameroonians religiously abiding by the outlawed Consortium’s call for ghost towns and school closures in West Cameroon as a strategy to bring the government to the negotiating table; a government that has, so far,been accused of displaying a lot of bad faith in the search formeaningful and sustainable solutions to the Anglophone problem that has been around for more than five decades and it is today a millstone around the government’s neck.Its inability to find a credible partner to dialogue with and its series of gaffes have left the country in a pitiful quandary.

For a long time, the Francophone majority has been on the sidelines, watching as their fellow citizens are being brought down by government bullets, with many even questioning why Anglophones were destabilizing the country given that the entire country has been a victim of the regime’s mal-administration. Regime supporters have hailed the government’s repressive measures and have even called for a court martial of those they consider as the enemies within and terrorists. But over the last couple of weeks, the balance has been swinging in the Anglophone minority’s favor as many French-speaking Cameroonians are gradually acknowledging the injustice Anglophones have suffered in the hands of a regime that has failed to bring prosperity to a country endowed with natural and human resources. The discourse is gradually changing. Francophones are gaining a better understanding of the situation. The Anglophone minority has carefully martialed its arguments and it has successfully won hearts and minds among Francophones, most of whom fear that the government’s do-nothing attitude could cause Anglophones to secede. In the event of secession, the Anglophone minority will be walking away with about 60% of the country’s wealth. The Anglophone region is blessed with many resources, including oil, gas, diamond and timber. Its rich sub-soil has brought lots of foreign currency earnings to the country. For almost 50 years, the Rio Del Rey estuary has been the source of more than 90% and at times 100% of all the country’s hydrocarbons, specifically oil or petroleum. In 2014, the last year for which complete data is publicly available, Cameroon exported US$5.88 billion worth of products, of which US$2.65 billion, about CFAF 1,650 billion, was from crude oil. Such a move will spell doom for a country that has been caught in the throes of an economic crisis for many decades.

The changing tides should tell the government that it has a huge crisis on its hands. The Francophone majority is gradually injecting itself into the equation, with some Francophone senators and members of parliament yielding that the Anglophone problem is real and should be dealt with politically to avoid a doomsday scenario. The Social Democratic Front (SDF), the country’s major opposition party, has decided to take the struggle to the Francophone region. It has scheduled a massive federalism march on March 4, 2017 in Douala which is a cosmopolitan city. Though the government has banned the march, the SDF has promised to organize one of the largest marches in the country’s history; a situation that will surely lead to a violent confrontation between Francophone federalists and a regime whose faith in oppressive methods of conflict resolution is no longer in doubt. The fireball is gradually rolling into the enemy’s camp and government fears are gradually coming true. Francophones might have, over the last three months, displayed inexplicable indifference to the slaughtering of Anglophones, but does this imply they are satisfied with the centralized system of government that is spreading pain and death in the country? Their silence might have been misconstrued as support for the government, but now that the grumbling is getting louder and SDF has decided to go frontal with the government, many Francophones might consider that the time has come for them to join the struggle that appears to hold out lots of hope not only for Anglophones, but for the entire country. The answer to the question that has been on many lips might finally find an answer in a few days’ timewhen the SDF will roll into Douala and other cities to deliver its message of federalism and rapid economic development. Will the once famous political party achieve what Anglophones have not been able to achieve over the last five decades? Swaying many Francophones has been a tough job for many Anglophones. Can the SDF really succeed to sway Francophones? The federalism march could be a significant milestone in Cameroon’s political history. The country’s leaders must understand that the odds are stacked up against them. The writing on the wall is very clear and it is, this time around, in French. Playing the ostrich will spell disaster for a country that has long been on life support. It is time for the government to rethink not just its strategy, but the form of the state, if it does not want to end up with a sticky situation on its hands.

By Dr. Joachim Arrey

About the Author:The author of this piece is a keen observer of Cameroon’s political and economic landscape. He has published extensively on the country’s political and economic development, especially in the early 90s when the wind of change was blowing across the African continent. He 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 in Toronto, Canada. He is also a trained translator and holds a Ph.D.

28, February 2017

SDF protesters to March in Bepanda despite government ban ⁰

The Littoral Regional Chairman of the Social Democratic Front, SDF, Hon. Jean Micheal Nitcheu has announced that contrary to a decision by the Prefect of the Douala 5^th District banning the party’s peaceful march in support of federalism and national unity, the rally will go on as planned. The Sub Prefect of Bepanda issued a prefectural order against the holding of the SDF event on March the 4^th 2017. Divisional Officer Tchakui Noundie Jean Marie noted that the SDF pro Anglophone march may bring about disturbance to public order within the locality.

The Francophone administrator’s decision came after the SDF party had deposited in his services and within the deadlines prescribed by law a Declaration of Public Demonstration which specified inter alia the different articulations, namely a major meeting under the theme “Federalism and Unitary State” followed by a Peaceful march.

The SDF regional boss in a press release observed that public demonstrations of political parties are governed by the 1990 Law on Civil Liberties that prescribed the principle of declaration and not of authorization. Hon. Jean Michel Nintcheu sounded a note of caution to the DO and advised him to guide against the extreme partiality and retrograde actions of the Yaounde regime, which, despite the entire existing legal arsenal, is always trying to maintain the hideous and apartheid system of double standards in method of selecting the political parties authorized to organize a public demonstration.

In view of the above, the SDF Littoral leadership stated that the DO’s decision was null and void and reaffirmed the party’s determination to mobilize and organize the Bepanda protest march.

By Sama Ernest

28, February 2017

Anglophone Crisis: South West governor shies away from UN delegation ⁰

A delegation from the UN office in Yaoundé has completed a fact finding mission in Southern Cameroons. Cameroon Intelligence Report gathered that the UN officials were not received by the Governor of the South West region, Bernard Okalia Bilai.

The Republic of Benin diplomat who headed the Southern Cameroons mission from the UN office of Human Rights and Democracy had a one-and-one meeting for about 45 minutes with the Francophone governor of the North West region, Adolphe Lélé Lafrique, but was unable to meet the governor of the South Western region Bernard Okalia Bilai who reportedly shied away.

During their trip to the Bamenda province of West Cameroon, they held talks with representatives of the civil society, relatives of those arrested or detained during the demonstrations, as well as with officials of the National Human Rights Commission.

The mission of the UN Yaoundé office team allowed the international institution to imbibe certain realities on the ground vis-a-vis the crisis in Southern Cameroons which continues to obstruct the normal functioning of the courts and schools in the English speaking regions. Both the United Nations Commission on Human Rights, based in Geneva, Switzerland and the African Union have called for a resolution of the Anglophone crisis.

Cameroon Intelligence Report

27, February 2017

SDF: Teche Nyamusa leads attack on Fru Ndi, slams his 4 state federation stance ²

An outspoken militant of the Social Democratic Front, SDF, Teche Nyamusa Felix has said that Chairman Ni John Fru Ndi will be an X factor after the elective convention in April 2017 in Bamenda. We understand Teche Nyamusa has been trying to create some political space for himself within the SDF and has eventually announced his intention to run for the 2018 Presidential election.

Recently, he revealed to a cream of reporters in the Bamenda province of Southern Cameroons that he was very confident in his charisma and ability to unseat the founding Chairman of the SDF party during the convention. Teche Nyamusa pointed out that he had already obtained the necessary documentation as required by the internal rules and regulations guiding elections into the National Executive Committee, NEC.

Painted by many Fru Ndi acolytes as youthful and inexperienced, Teche Nyamusa also noted that he had already deposited his file at the office of his ward chairman for onward transmission to the National Executive Committee. He hinted that for the SDF to smile again and have a break through after 27 years, power must change hands. He recounted how the party had already witnessed a sharp decline and dwindling returns in the National Assembly with tremendous reduction of seats and Councils.

He launched a scathing attack on Chairman Fru Ndi and observed that the national Chairman has ran out of innovative ideas and was simply recycling what he had some 20 years ago which are ineffective. He rubbished Fru Ndi’s idea of a four states federation.

By Sama Ernest with files from Eden Newspaper

27, February 2017

Anglophone Crisis: Hon. Norbert Mbile says his anti North West declarations were manipulated ²

In a move seen by many as running away from the Mafany Musonge minority following, Hon. Norbert Mbile has expressed surprised at heavy criticism on his person following statements he reportedly made against the people of the Bamenda province of Southern Cameroons at the famous South West Elites Forum meeting which held in Buea on February 2, 2017 .

Mbile recently revealed that people misunderstood him when he observed that North Westerners were more resilient, hardworking and outnumbered the South Westerners. The Supreme Leader of the Batanga kingdom in Ndian Division, in the Buea province of West Cameroon said he was instead praising the people of North West for their bravery and not insulting them. He noted that after the Buea controversial meeting he received a series of insulting messages.

Hon. Mbile said he had argued that the South Westerners, in line with the 1996 Constitution were advocating for a ten states Federation whereby each region will have a form of autonomy but that the position of the North West region for a two state Federation might be difficult to obtain because the Biya Francophone regime will find it difficult to share resources 50-50 with the Southern Cameroons.

Mbile who also moonlights as a chartered member of the National Anti Corruption Commission, CONAC said he sees North Westerners as his brothers and that the two English speaking regions are one and indivisible like the one and indivisible Cameroon. The MP failed to condemn the rapes, extra judicial killings and arbitrary arrests currently going on in Southern Cameroons but was quick to call for the resumption of classes in Anglophone schools.

Hon Mbile said the strike in the two English regions has exposed the gross marginalization going on in the country especially the problems faced in the bi-jural and bi-cultural aspects of operation in the country. He however said all strikes have an end and the best thing to do is call off the strike and send children to school which according to him will pave way for positive and inclusive dialogue with the government.

Eyong Johnson with files from Cameroun Info.Net

25, February 2017

Anglophone Crisis: Yang Philemon orders transfer of financial resources to local councils ⁴

Prime Minister Philemon Yang has made another vain attempt at appeasing Southern Cameroonians to end the strikes and civil disobedience campaign that has rocked the entire Anglophone regions. The so-called Head of Government on Thursday the 24^th of February 2017 signed a text that makes effective the transfer of financial resources to local councils across the country.

Cameroon Radio and Television reported that the move is intended to speed up the execution of development projects and especially render local councils more autonomous. The Philemon Yang order also stated that the sum of ten billion FCFA will be transferred to the councils for the 2017 Financial Year for the purpose of development and the day-to-day management.

Some pro CPDM comedians opined that the Prime Ministerial order appears to be one of most ground-breaking decisions taken for an effective decentralization process that began in the early 2000’s. At the time of filing this report, the interim leaders of the Cameroon Anglophone Civil Society Consortium had not reacted to the text from the Star Building. However, information filtered that the Consortium plans to intensify the strikes and the ghost town operations as of next week.

By Rita Akana with files from CRTV