Separatist leaders flown into Canada from Nigeria to attend the Canada talks have agreed to continue talking with other faction leaders in order to give peace a chance.

Some three fighters who obtained their visas from the Canadian embassy in Abuja said they had been mandated by the fighters on Ground Zero to represent them at the talks which recently ended in Canada.

Asked if they had been bought over by the government of Cameroon, the separatist leader who spoke to Cameroon Concord News correspondent, Chi Prudence Asong, on condition of anonymity, said that he and his colleagues had not received any assistance from the Yaoundé government.

He added that their visa process had been facilitated by the talks organizers, stressing that he and his fellow fighters were returning to Nigeria and then to Southern Cameroons to update their colleagues on the ground on the way forward.

He said their bills including air tickets, visa fees and per diem were taken care of by talk organizers who had contacted them months before.

As to why some other factions were not represented, the separatist fighter stressed that those invited to the talks were people who hold that talking with other factions was the way forward.

He said Sako Ikome and Chris Anu had not been invited because they did not really represent anybody.

“Chris Anu only represents himself. He has recently been installed as the chairman of an IG faction which has no following. He has ruined his reputation and nobody in the international community has confidence in him. He has stolen lots of money and he now spends most of his time dancing and enjoying himself in the USA,” the fighter pointed out.

“For Sako Ikome, it is clear that his ambition is to keep power and not to unite the people of Southern Cameroons. His name keeps popping up wherever there are issues of embezzlement and this is hurting our cause. A true leader should be above all of those little accusations. Many young men and women have lost their lives because of this struggle and it is indeed shameful that those who have been working hard to grab power from Sisiku Julius Ayuk Tabe have been doing so just to steal much-needed resources,” he added.

“We cannot continue to project such people as our leaders when they cannot live up to our expectations. Julius Ayuk Tabe remains our leader and we hold that talking with leaders of other factions could result in the liberation of many of our people who have been held in jails in East Cameroon for a long time,” he pointed out.

“We want Julius Ayuk Tabe and his colleagues to be liberated. They were our best leaders. The government of Yaoundé had its representatives at the talks and some participants argued that freeing Sisiku Julius Ayuk Tabe and his close collaborators would be the first step towards sustainable and meaningful peace,” the angry fighter pointed out.

“We have been told that there will be more talks and that the just-ended talks were designed to serve as the first in a series of negotiations which are expected to lead to a peaceful settlement,” he said.

“Though no concrete agreements were reached, it is becoming clear that most Southern Cameroonians are gradually accepting that a federal system will bring peace to our country. I have seen the way Canada is developed and organized and I think a federal administration based on the Canadian system may help address most issues plaguing Cameroon,” he said.

“We are looking forward to further talks which will help to end the bloodshed. We have lost many young men and we are out of financial resources to continue fighting. Ever since Sako and Chris Anu made the embezzlement of resources their main goal of being involved in the struggle, things have not been the same. We need huge amounts of money to turn things around. But this cannot happen when Sako and Chris Anu are permanently at each other’s throat,” he pointed out.

“I am heading back to Nigeria satisfied that it is possible to bring about peace in Cameroon through negotiations. This is my first time of leaving Africa and I must say that peace is vital for political and economic development efforts to be sustainable,” he pointed out.

“We must continue to talk though while keeping Yaoundé troops at bay. They have killed our people, raped our women, but fighting forever will not address the issues. We must make peace but we must not throw ourselves into the hands of the enemy. The Yaoundé government cannot be trusted but if we work with international actors, we will be able to come up with a peace plan which will make it easy for us to live in peace with our brothers east of the Mungo,” he concluded.

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai

The chairman of Cameroon’s election management body (ELECAM), Abrams Enow Egbe, recently held talks with the delegate general for national security, Martin Mbarga Nguele, on clearing the many blockages that stand in the way of digital ID card issuance in the country.

The national identity card is a compulsory ID credential for those of voting age to participate in the electoral process in Cameroon, but obtaining the ID in the Central African nation has become a nightmare for millions, with many waiting up to two years to get the credential.

The talks, which took place 10 October, were part of a series of consultation meetings that ELECAM has held with different stakeholders in past weeks with the aim of gathering opinions and suggestions on how to better organize the next cycle of elections coming up between 2023 and 2025.

Cameroon has national assembly and presidential elections in 2025, but before then, in 2023, a new senate has to be voted in.

Enow Egbe told reporters that apart from discussing how the ID issuing authority (known by the abbreviation DGSN) can clear the backlog of ID card applications, it is important for Cameroonians who have not withdrawn their cards from police stations to visit such stations to check whether their credentials are already available for collection. People apply for the document at their closest police station accredited within the scheme and then collect the finished card there.

“The main focus of our discussion was on the obtention of the national identity card. Many Cameroonians are complaining that they are unable to obtain their cards. We got clear and precise information from the delegate general who assured us that all will be done for citizens to get the national ID card,” said Enow Egbe.

“However, we want to inform Cameroonians to first go and check out their ID cards from the different police stations where they applied for them. There are many of the cards abandoned there. They have to collect them because they need it to register for elections.”

It is worth mentioning that the national identity card is crucial at two major stages of the electoral process in Cameroon. It is a requirement at the time of enrolling on the electoral register, and then for identity verification at the time of voting at polling stations. Cameroon does not yet use biometrics for voter verification.

The call by ELECAM for the DGSN to rush ID production has been hailed as necessary as it comes at a time when problems with delivery of the cards in the country have reached strange and disturbing proportions.

Recently, many citizens have been expressing their frustration with the process, asking why previously-announced plans to overhaul the current ID system have stalled.

There have also been testimonies in local media, seen by Biometric Update, from citizens confessing to paying bribes from between XAF50,000 (US$74) to XAF 500,000 (US$740) to obtain the document within a few days.

Source: Biometric Update

To tackle complaints of discrimination against English speakers, Cameroon’s President Paul Biya has ordered officials to enforce a 2019 law on bilingualism and make life easier for English speakers in the French-speaking majority country.

The sense of marginalization among the English-speaking minority in Cameroon sparked a separatist conflict that, since 2017, has left more than 3,500 people dead. Earlier this week, civilians assembled at the city council in the country’s capital Yaoundé to complain about difficulties they encounter in public offices because they speak only one of the central African state’s two official languages. Civilians who fled the fighting in western Cameroon between troops and separatists say they often face discrimination in public offices when speaking English.

A December 2019 law states that French and English have the same value and should be used equally in public offices, and says Cameroonians should be able to express themselves in either language. But according to officials dispatched to enforce the bilingualism law, people reportedly abuse public office by refusing to attend to civilians who speak either in English or French.

The Cameroon president is said to no longer tolerate French-speaking workers imposing the French language on English-speaking citizens, and English-speaking workers should also be patient when they receive French speakers in public offices. After educating citizens on the importance of the two languages co-existing peacefully, the government is now ordering Cameroonians who do not speak the two languages to register in language schools. Signboards written in one language are being pulled down and replaced.

Culled from North Africa Post

Although ‘Franckists’ are not very well organised, they nevertheless manage to make themselves heard. Who are they and why do they want Franck Biya, the son of Cameroon’s President Paul Biya, to come to power one day?

The text has the feel of a religious sermon. Published on Facebook on 24 September, it speaks about the “sacred union of hearts” and the need to keep “the flame of peace and unity lit”. The name of its author attracts more attention than even the content of the text, which evokes “the Cameroon [we] would like to teach our children”. For Mohamed Rahim Noumeu is none other than the founder of the Mouvement Citoyen des Franckistes pour la Paix et l’Unité du Cameroun, MCFPU, (Citizens movement of Franckists for the peace and unity of Cameroon)

‘A man with a divine destiny’

The term “franckists” refers to men and women who support 51-year-old Franck Biya, the only son of Jeanne-Irène, who died in 1992. They openly express their hope of seeing him succeed his father, Paul Biya, as soon as the latter steps down from the position he has held for nearly 40 years.

Borrowing expressions from the Gospel, the MCFPU behaves like the political party it is not, without paying much attention to those who accuse it of wanting to transform the Cameroonian Republic into a monarchy governed by a law of dynastic succession. After all, its members see Franck Biya as “a providential man with a divine destiny”.

The MCFPU is the main one of the so-called Franckist movements. It has existed since 2013 and, for a long time, its activities were limited to posting on a Facebook group. Franck Biya’s return to Cameroon in 2020 has given it a certain prominence. Previously removed from his father’s business, the eldest Biya child is now one of the head of state’s advisors. He has set up an office at the Etoudi Palace, from where he manages the dossiers that the president has entrusted to him.

Does he hope to succeed him? The question is now being asked, even though the main person concerned has not answered it and has neither welcomed nor rejected these overflowing expressions of affection. This cleverly maintained vagueness has also thrown 52-year-old Noumeu into the spotlight. Many see his movement as a tool that can be used to gauge public reaction in the event that Franck Biya becomes a candidate.

Signs and banners

Little concerned until now by the activism of this Cameroonian living in the US, the Etoudi palace began to pay special attention to him when France’s Emmanuel Macron visited Yaoundé last July. The Franckists hoped to take advantage of the French president’s visit to make themselves heard. They had even planned to deploy activists, placards and banners along the route that Macron was meant to take through the heart of the capital.

But things didn’t go as planned. Other organisations showing their support for Franck Biya entered the fray. Anxious to ensure that the cacophony would not disrupt the official programme, the Cameroonian presidency’s civil cabinet asked the security forces to silence them.

Five hours before Macron’s plane landed on the tarmac, the police took action. Commissioner Messanga, head of the Territorial Security branch at Nsimalen airport, and the Yaoundé central commissioner had banners and placards seized.

About 20 activists were arrested and placed in police custody. An investigation was opened and entrusted to the Directorate of General Intelligence. Police officers conducted a series of interrogations over three days and tried to unravel the web of this intriguing phenomenon.

Constellation

In addition to the MCFPU, there is the Réseau National des Jeunes Acquis à Franck Emmanuel Biya pour la Paix et la Stabilité au Cameroun (National network of youth in support of Franck Emmanuel Biya for peace and stability in Cameroon) , headed by Garba Aboubakar, as well as the Mouvement des Febistes (Febist movement) and the Rassemblement Républicain des Franckistes du Cameroun, RRFC (Republican Assembly of Cameroon’s Franckists).

There is not one Franckist organisation, but rather groups that are independent of each other.

Not to mention the Mouvement Citoyen pour la Paix et l’Unité  (Citizen’s movement for peace and unity) and the Mouvement Citoyen pour l’Émergence (Citizen’s movement for emergence) – both founded by MCFPU defectors. There is even a second MCFPU, which bears the exact same name as Noumeu’s movement, but is instead led by a certain Alain Fidèle Owona. The Réseau National des Jeunes Musulmans, which supports Franck Biya, is the latest addition to the political landscape.

“There is not one Franckist organisation, but rather groups that are independent of each other,” says Bertrand Ndzana, a member of the RRFC. “What brings us together is the desire to see the president’s son in power. Some see him as a kind of new version of Paul Biya, who will be able to preserve the values [that his father defended]. Others want to keep or obtain an enviable position,’ he adds frankly. The RRFC makes no secret of the fact that it is based in Ebolowa, in the southern region where Biya is from.

“The profusion of support movements for a figure, especially for one that is close to power, is nothing new,” says someone familiar with local political life. “Before the Franckists, we saw organisations such as Jachabi (Jeunesse Active pour Chantal Biya) and Presby (Jeunesse de Paul Biya) dominate the landscape, then disappear. Today, Franck Biya arouses such interest because the matter of succession has not been resolved.”

The hand of an influential minister?

Is Franckism a spontaneous phenomenon or is the hand of an ambitious man behind this sudden enthusiasm? In Yaoundé, some people, speaking on condition of anonymity, have linked this movement to an influential minister from the South who, in the clan war that is tearing Yaoundé apart, would like to tip the balance in favour of the South and the Bulus.

This clan revolves around Samuel Mvondo Ayolo, the director of the presidency’s civil cabinet, Bonaventure Mvondo Assam, a nephew of the head of state, and Franck Biya himself. This clan’s fiercest opponents include many people from the eastern region, the first lady Chantal Biya and the presidency’s secretary-general Ferdinand Ngoh Ngoh.

“When we look at the career of some Franckists, we may have some doubts about the sincerity of their activism,” said the source. “In the past, Mohamed Rahim Noumeu was, for example, a fervent supporter of the singer Lapiro from Mbanga, a virulent critic of Paul Biya. Today, he finds himself on the side of power… And he is far from being the only one.”

How far will the Franckists go? Although the activists arrested during Macron’s visit have been released, the Cameroonian services are now keeping an eye on them. Paul Atanga Nji, the minister of territorial administration, demands that these organisations be legalised before they are allowed to carry out any activity.

The licence issued to the RRFC has been cancelled as a result of this pressure. “In the Cameroonian context, the legal recognition of political associations remains an exclusive prerogative of the territorial administration,” Sylyac Marie Mvogo, the prefect of Mvila (South), said in a statement. It will undoubtedly take more to discourage the Franckists, who are aware that their champion was officially presented to Macron on 26 July.

Culled from The Africa Report

The founder and head of the Center for Human Rights and Democracy in Africa Barrister Agbor Balla has said that the solution to the crisis in Southern Cameroons requires dialogue between the Francophone dominated Biya regime and the jailed Ambazonian leaders.

The armed conflict is now into its sixth year and nothing seems to change following the so-called Grand National Dialogue that was held in 2019, an event that was supposed to mark a significant milestone in the process of resolving the conflict. The killings have also continued at catastrophic rapidity and the burning and looting of private homes is now increasing at an alarming proportion, much to the dismay of human rights defenders including Barrister Agbor Balla.

For his part, Dr Felix Agbor Balla regrets that no progress has been made in the process of resolving the Ambazonia conflict.

 “Three years after the holding of the Grand National Dialogue to resolve the Anglophone crisis, we note that nothing is actually changing in the two regions since 2016. Kidnappings, armed attacks in which civilians and soldiers are killed continue in both regions. In short, the Anglophone crisis continues to wreak havoc with several consequences on the entire Cameroonian population. Even when the Grand Dialogue was held in 2019, I did not think that this crisis would find a definitive solution,” Barrister Agbor Balla told a French publication Le Jour on Tuesday, September 27, 2022.

Balla in the interview deplored the fact that attacks on schools, churches, hospitals and public buildings have continued and the university don blamed it on both Ambazonia fighters and the Cameroon government military. “These are war crimes that we as human rights defenders, cannot tolerate,” the legal practitioner said.

Barrister Agbor Balla furthered that it is important for Cameroon authorities to organize informal meetings with the jailed Ambazonian leaders in order to find lasting solutions to the crisis.

 “Now, it is important that the state authorities work for the definitive resolution of this crisis that is paralyzing activities in two regions of the country. I propose to the government to discuss with the separatist leaders who are in Cameroon with the aim of finding a definitive solution in the framework of informal meetings for example. We have for example a leader like Ayuk Tabe who is incarcerated in Kondengui. The government can also consult members of civil society to find a definitive solution to this crisis. A reform of the republican institutions is also necessary for the final resolution of this crisis,” he concluded.

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai with files from CIN

The man who facilitated the killing of hundreds of French Cameroon service men and women of Hausa extraction after the 1984 April 6 coup has died in the nation’s capital, Yaoundé.

Minister Amadou Ali, leader of the Fulani CPDM mafia was a staunch supporter and acolyte of President Paul Biya.

Cameroon Radio and Television confirmed his death a few hours ago but did not say what he died from.

Minister Amadou Ali reportedly collapsed in a flight from Geneva to Yaoundé and died some few hours later.

Since then scores of gendarmerie officers have stood guard outside his Yaoundé residence. Cameroon’s leading independent newspaper Cameroon Intelligence Report said last year that he had cancer and had shown signs of disorientation and rapid weight loss.

His trademarks were silent violence against political opponents and Fulani Beti Ewondo hegemony. Correspondents say his death is a severe blow to President Biya’s ruling CPDM party. The Biya regime is already reeling from the recent deaths of three ministers from Covid 19.

Amadou Ali was born in 1943 in Kolofata, in the Far North region of the country and has been appointed minister several times in the Biya Francophone regime. Since 2011, he has served as Minister in charge of Relations with the Assemblies.

Ali had a meteoric rise in the corrupt system in French Cameroun. He was First Deputy Prefect of Ngaoundéré (1971-1972), Director at the Ministry of Territorial Administration (1972-1974), Secretary General Ministry of Public Service (1974-1982), General Delegate for Tourism ( 1982-1983), Head of the National Gendarmerie (1983-1985) and was again Secretary of State for Defense in charge of the National Gendarmerie from 1985 to 1996.

In 1996, he was appointed Secretary General of the Presidency of the Republic in a move that was aimed at annoying Professor Titus Edzoa. He held the portfolio concurrently with his duties as Secretary of State for Defense. He was Minister-Delegate at the Presidency in charge of Defense from 1997 to 2001. He was also appointed Minister of State, in charge of Justice and Keeper of the Seals from 2001 to 2004.

By Chi Prudence Asong

President Emmanuel Macron announced on September 15, 2022 that he has appointed General Thierry Marchand to be the next French ambassador to Cameroon.

Thierry Marchand is a favorite among France-Afrique supporters in Paris who want to see President Biya’s eldest son, Franck Biya succeed the father. As ambassador, he would oversee the Elysée plan.

French President Emmanuel Macron signed a decree on September 15, 2022, making official the appointment of Marchand as ambassador to Cameroon replacing his compatriot Christophe Guilhou.

The appointment of General Thierry Marchand comes at a time when military cooperation between the Francophone dominated Biya government and France is faltering, even though it was renewed in September 2021.

People in the know have opined that Russian presence in the Central African Republic and the recently signed military cooperation agreement with Moscow by the Biya regime has been a difficult pill to swallow for Elysée.

General Thierry Marchand has served the French Republic in Gabon, Central African Republic, Djibouti and Somalia flirting with diplomacy and the military.

By Rita Akana

The entire Southern Cameroons territory has been shutdown ever since the government in Yaoundé announced its so-called back-to-school policy. Businesses and government offices remained close as Ambazonians continue to reject the current political status quo with French Cameroun.

An estimated three million Southern Cameroonians have stayed indoors in numerous towns and villages throughout Southern Cameroons and amid a brutal crackdown by Cameroon government army soldiers, the back-to-school lockdown has resulted in the deaths of several people.

“The Ambazonian Interim Government and the people of Southern Cameroons are proving that they have the will to resist and experience in developing networks and taking it upon themselves not to allow the French Cameroun regime to continue to dictate and dominate the political life in Southern Cameroons,” Dabney Yerima, the Vice President of the Ambazonia Interim Government told journalists recently in Den Hague, Holland.

Since top Cameroon army general Bouba Dobékréo  announced he will crush the Southern Cameroons uprising within months, Southern Cameroons restoration groups have carried out a series of deadly ambushes against the Cameroon government military which have been on a bigger scale than anything yet seen since the start of the conflict five years ago. And now, the resistance is being spiced with acts of civil disobedience to denounce French Cameroun’s military presence and atrocious activities in Southern Cameroons.

Five years into the conflict, Southern Cameroons restoration groups have again imposed a successful lockdown in both the South West and the North West regions. Southern Cameroonians have remained defiant and unified on one thing, which is the complete rejection of Biya, Yaoundé and French Cameroun.

Cameroon Concord News London Bureau Chief Isong Asu thinks the unity among Southern Cameroonians today in Ground Zero is growing stronger again and that the complete implementation of the Big Rubbergun Project will be a turning point to mark the beginning of the end of Biya French Cameroun rule in Southern Cameroons.

Members of a ‘think-and-do-tank’ in the UK with strong ties to the Ambazonia Interim Government have urged Vice President Dabney Yerima to mobilize resources for all Amba fighters in Ground Zero.

Anger has been rising since the appointment of General Bouba Dobékréo and it is now further growing as the military creates more victims. Many Southern Cameroons families too have not recovered from atrocities committed by Amba fighters.

Despite violent repression from the Cameroon government military and the paramilitary Rapid Intervention Battalion Forces (BIR), the Southern Cameroons lockdown is raging on against the Biya Francophone regime in Yaoundé.

Francophone army soldiers have kept up their heavy-handed response and launched sweeping arrests of hundreds of Southern Cameroonians and Ambazonia activists. There are reports of the Cameroon government military going house to house in Kumbo in Bui Division detaining Southern Cameroonians.

Ghost towns and lockdowns have been successful in Southern Cameroons in the past; but this time around they are the two most effective tools the Ambazonia Interim Government has!

The 2022 back-to-school lockdown has taken root in Southern Cameroons with a wide array of participating Ambazonia groups and restoration forces.

In the entire Southern Cameroons, the majority of government and educational institutions have stopped working, and several businesses and banks have remained closed as many people responded to the lockdown calls.

Demands include the complete release of all Southern Cameroons detainees including President Sisiku Ayuk Tabe and an end to French Cameroun occupation of the Ambazonia homeland.

Lockdown is an extreme form of peaceful protest in Southern Cameroons to tell those in power in Yaoundé that, if they want to rule, Ambazonians won’t cooperate and they will squeeze French Cameroun economic and political interest in Southern Cameroons dry until their demands are met.

However, the campaign, besides hurting the political and military leadership in Yaoundé, affects Southern Cameroonians in their livelihoods, though many are willing to pay such a price for the greater good down the line.

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai

89-year-old President Paul Biya, in power since 1982, has reportedly reaffirmed he will retire before the next presidential election and stressed that he is not grooming anyone to succeed him; a well-placed source deep inside the presidency has hinted Cameroon Intelligence Report.

”I have said it before and during my press conference with French President Macron that when my term ends I will retire to my village,” our source quoted the Cameroonian dictator as saying recently inside Etoudi.

Our informant added that the octogenarian leader also pointed out clearly that he will let the new generation choose their next leader.

Cameroon Intelligence Report understands Biya told his top aides that he had never indulged in the process of grooming a successor and he will never do that.

Our Yaoundé city reporter covering the head of state said Biya wants his successor to come from the ruling CPDM party and he has always opined that Cameroon opposition parties are disorganized and badly managed.

For many months now, there have been secret discussions at the Unity Palace on who should succeed Paul Biya, Cameroon’s ailing and desperately old President who has been in power for 40 years but has nothing to show for his long stay in power.

As Mr. Biya’s health continues its relentless march towards the tubes, his inner circle is working closely with the French government on the possibility of making Franck Biya, the ruthless dictator’s eldest son, the country’s next president.

According to another source at the Unity Palace who elected anonymity, the plan to hand over power to Franck Biya is now complete and the French have put their seal of approval on the plan they fear could trigger a civil war in the country.

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai with files