As Chad’s president, Idriss Deby, exits the political scene in uncertain circumstances, many in the world have begun thinking that Chad might be talking to Cameroon.

The Chadian president had won a landslide victory in a predetermined presidential election like his Cameroonian counterpart, Paul Biya.

The beleaguered Chadian leader was dealing with an insurgency just like his Cameroonian counterpart and had vowed to crush it.

But can the Chadian situation be a lesson to Cameroonian authorities? This will be the subject of the next editorial as things play out in Chad.

Cameroon has been touted as an oasis of peace in a desert of chaos for many decades, but for some time now, the country has gradually been ranking itself among the most dangerous, corrupt and chaotic countries to live in as descent and frustration spread across the country like wildfire.

Four years ago, the country’s president, Paul Biya, erroneously declared war on the country’s English-speaking minority which was simply demonstrating to bring its sorry plight to the attention of the government and the international community and what Mr. Biya and his collaborators thought would be wrapped up in a week has now lasted four years with more than 7,000 young Cameroonians already sent to an early grave in a war that has no raison d’etre.

As the government and militia have transformed the country into an open air killing field, the country’s economy has taken a nosedive, with millions of Cameroonians seeking employment and thousands losing their jobs in the country’s two English-speaking regions where the killings are going on unabated.

The number of internally displaced person has continued to swell, while millions have fled to neighboring Nigeria where they are living rough and waiting for the fighting to end for them to return to their country, though their homes have been razed by government soldiers who are wont to inflicting collective punishment on the population each time an army soldier is killed.

But it is not only Southern Cameroons that is going through such an apocalypse. The northern part of the country has been the theater of violent confrontations between government troops and Boko Haram fighters who have bombed many civilians into an early grave.

While the government has been active in the North hoping that it could roll back Boko Haram fighters who are believed to come from Nigeria, government forces have succeeded to alienate Northerner due to massive and bloody killings and abuse of the civilian population which now sympathizes with Boko Haram fighters who are sometimes viewed as liberators.

Noted for its corruption, the government has never really sought to address those issues that are really threatening national unity and integration. The North, like many parts of the country, has been neglected, with very little development projects being implemented in that part of the country.

Tribalism and nepotism are really tearing the country apart as most senior government positions are only occupied by the president’s tribesmen and those loyal to him and his ruling crime syndicate known as the CPDM.

However, it is not the government’s nepotism that is the issue but the results it has posted over the last four decades. Cameroonians would not be bothered if those occupying those strategic positions were really delivering desired results.

While across the country the unemployment rate is high, it is a lot higher in the northern region of the country where there are no companies, no roads, no hospitals and no social services and financial assistance that can even cushion the impact of the economic hardship.

The frustrations in the North are legion and the pain is excruciating. The North has lost almost everything it had during the Amadou Ahidjo days and this is really painful.

Northerners have grudges and they want to get their pound of flesh sooner rather than later. The Biya regime had killed thousands of Northerners, especially senior northern military officials, following a coup d’état in 1984 that led to the country’s first president, Amadou Ahidjo, fleeing to Senegal where he died and is currently lying in an unmarked grave.

This bitterness and the corruption which have robbed the northern population of many services has pushed the frustrated northern population to set up a militia which is now armed and willing to fight the Yaounde government that has never incorporated dialogue into its national development and integration strategy.

The new militia is enjoying huge support from muslim countries such as Saudi Arabia, Quatar, Egypt and the United Arab Emirates which surely have a hidden agenda that may result in the long term destabilization of the country.

Cameroon is falling apart and the way things are shaping up, if care is not taken, it might end up like Zaire, currently the Democratic Republic of Congo, where since its brutal dictator, Mobutu Seseseko, fell in 1994, the country has been unstable and the number of militia has grown by leaps and bounds and the country has become the epitome of political chaos.

The international community must stop looking the other way as Cameroon continues its unfortunate but sure descent to the bottom of the abyss of chaos and corruption.

With new armed groups cropping up on a daily basis, it is obvious that the country which is now on life support may one day implode and the consequences could linger for a very long time.

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai

The central African nation of Cameroon is better known for football, but its bloody, under-reported conflict deserves our attention. The right of minorities to self-determination is at the heart of violence blighting the lives of millions of unarmed civilians.

The Vatican has been increasingly diplomatically engaged, encouraging the Cameroon government to participate in inclusive peace talks, mediated by a third party. A webinar, hosted by the Liberal Democrats, on 19 April 6.30 – 8pm explores these issues.

Cameroon has been ruled by President Paul Biya, age 88, since 1982. He continues to win elections that no international monitor considers free and fair, and his country is ranked among the world’s most corrupt and repressive by Transparency International and Freedom House, respectively.

In 2016, Biya’s Francophone-dominated regime tried to impose French-speaking judges and teachers on the English-speaking regions, representing 20% of the population. Peaceful Anglophone protests were crushed with what impartial human rights groups described as disproportionate force. The UN estimates 700,000 civilians (out of six million Anglophones) have fled to the bush and beyond. UNICEF says one million children are out of school. Local civil society groups believe 5,000 people have been killed. Meanwhile, hundreds of opposition figures are imprisoned without due process.

Armed militias have emerged, demanding a sovereign country called “The Federal Republic of Ambazonia,” and rights monitors believe all armed sides are behaving with impunity, with unarmed civilians caught in the middle. The former colonial powers, the UK and France, offer bland calls for the respect for international human rights law, but neither government will apply pressure on Cameroon to attend inclusive mediated peace talks offered by the Swiss and the Vatican. Cardinal Parolin, the Papal envoy, visited Cameroon in January, and rights monitors suggest that Pope Francis is the only world leader commanding the respect of President Biya.

The webinar will explore a cross section of views on the way forward. Speakers include Dr Chris Fomunyoh from the National Democratic Institute in Washington DC, and Juliette Paauwe of the Coalition for the Responsibility to Protect.

Source: Independent Catholic News

Professor Messanga Nyamding, the former faculty member of the International Relations Institute of Cameroon (IRIC), who was recently transferred to Ngaoundere by the country’s higher education minister, Fame Ndongo, who also doubles as an indefatigable professional dancer, has finally arrived his new duty station.

Messanga Nyamding’s transfer, which is a disciplinary measure for his incisive criticism of his own party, the ruling CPDM, also known as the crime syndicate, is gradually transforming him into a clown and rock star at the same time.

Upon reaching his new duty station, the notorious professor, headed to a local restaurant where he ate a one-kilometer long loaf of bread with an entire pot of meat before heading to the university where he will be imparting knowledge to young Cameroonians.

The minister of higher education, Fame Ndongo, had said on national television that the frustrated professor of international relations would be received in his new obscure university as a hero.

He made this declaration while seeking to prove that Professor Messanga Nyamding’s brutal and sudden transfer was not politically motivated.

Professor Messanga Nyamding had criticized the secretary general at the Presidency of the Republic, Ferdinand Ngoh Ngoh, on national TV, pointing out that the all powerful secretary general was fostering corruption in the civil service by promoting nepotism and mediocrity.

Cameroon has long been known for its legendary corruption and it has, on two occasions, won the world cup for corruption under the watchful eyes of Peter Mafany Musonge who was the country’s prime Minister at the time.

Messanga Nyamding who is cash strapped has accepted his humiliation and has grudgingly moved to Ngaoundere, but he wants to make political out of his misfortune.

As predicted by Fame Ndongo, Professor Messanga Nyamding was received with pump and pageantry by motorcycle riders of Ngaoundere. But the Chancellor of the Univerisy, Professor Chinje, was not willing to see Messanga Nyamding enjoy his rock star status. She did her best to rain on Messanga Nyamding’s parade.

Instead of being a beautiful event, the CPDM drama ended up being a COVID-19 super spreader event, with the boisterous and flamboyant Nyamding spraying the deadly virus across the entire city. What was supposed to have been a simple event to escort Professor Nyamding ended up being a super spreader event, with onlookers and participants ignoring all COVID-19 safety protocols and with Messanga Nyamding coughing and blowing his nose irresponsibly.

Professor Messanga Nyamding might not have had the joy and privilege of being escorted to his new duty station because of Prof. Chinje, but he did at least draw attention to himself.

His objective has always been to draw the attention of the country’s president, Paul Biya. He has been looking forward to a good appointment but his dream seems to be turning into a nightmare as his political comrades have resorted to persecuting him as a means of shutting him up for good.

Yesterday’s event in Ngaoundere is by no means the last we will be seeing from the frustrated and flamboyant Nyamding. He needs a political appointment and recognition and he will stop at nothing when it comes to achieving his objective.

Nyamding is hungry. He is cash strapped and while he has taken the humiliation from Professor Fame Ndongo and Mr. Ferdinand Ngoh Ngoh lying down, he has not taken his eye off the ball. Cameroonians will be hearing from him soon as he remains a key member of the CPDM comedy cast.

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai

In a bid to continue deceiving the people of Southern Cameroons that the Social Democratic Front party of Ni John Fru Ndi is still a force within the Biya Francophone political setting, Yaoundé has announced that the crisis in Southern Cameroons will be on the agenda of the next parliamentary session, four years after the conflict began.

The information was made public by the regime after secret service officers reported that ghost town operations put in place all over Southern Cameroons by the Ambazonia Interim Government is paralyzing the economies of many towns and cities including those in French Cameroun and hampering the flow of Ambazonia money into the French Cameroun treasury.

 A highly placed official inside the Etoudi palace was quoted by Le Jour –a French Cameroun newspaper as saying “The crisis that is shaking the North-West and South-West regions will finally be put on the National Assembly’s agenda next June”.

Fru Ndi’s man in Yaoundé, Hon. Joshua Osih has reportedly confirmed the CPDM French Cameroun decision and told Le Jour that “We have always fought for a debate on the crisis in the North West and South West regions. This has been agreed and could be put on the agenda for the June session. I think we will come back to this issue in June and to the budgetary orientation debate. This session was dense. We are going home with the feeling that we have played our role well. It is important to know that the sessions follow each other and are not alike.”

SDF boycotted the opening of the November 2017 session, to force the Biya Francophone government to include the Southern Cameroons Crisis on the agenda for discussions. Nothing was done. Former SDF Member of Parliament Hon. Joseph Wirba, one of the first parliamentarians to raise this issue when the conflict was still in its infancy, ended up resigning from the assembly out of sheer exhaustion and threats to his life.

By Oke Akombi Ayukepi Akap in Glasgow with files from Rita Akana