US President Donald Trump has claimed that talks with Iran are imminent and could happen “pretty soon,” a day after he expressed willingness to meet with the Islamic Republic’s leaders without “preconditions.”

“I have a feeling they’ll be talking to us pretty soon,” Trump said at a rally in Florida on Tuesday. “And maybe not, and that’s OK, too.”

The US president also used the occasion to once again denounce as “horrible, one-sided” the 2015 Iran nuclear deal – known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) – from which he withdrew in May.

Trump announced on Monday that he was willing to meet with Iranians “any time they want to.”

Shortly after that, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo appeared on CNBC to set some conditions.

Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Bahram Qasemi responded to Trump’s offer by noting that it was in contradiction his actions of imposing sanctions and pressuring other countries into avoiding business with Tehran.

“Sanctions and pressures are the exact opposite of dialogue which requires mutual respect and commitment to international treaties,” he said. “How can he prove to the Iranian nation that the comments he made last night showed his true intention for negotiation and were not expressed for populist gains?”

Back in May, Pompeo had set 12 conditions for talks with Iran, which were dismissed by Tehran.

Trump’s latest stance towards Tehran runs counter to his recent threats against the nation as well as pulling Washington out of the Iran nuclear deal despite having the support of almost all US allies.

The withdrawal entails the re-imposition of not only sanctions on Iran but also the so-called secondary sanctions on third countries.

Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani has denounced the US withdrawal from the 2015 international nuclear deal, saying the ball is now in Europe’s court to make up for Washington’s absence and work to keep the landmark agreement alive.

Source: Presstv

The United States of America has called out Congolese president Joseph Kabila for failing to publicly state that he will not run for re-election in a planned December election, warning him that “the time for posturing is over.”

Kabila said in a speech a week ago that a presidential election in December would go ahead, but he declined to say whether he would defy term limits to stand for re-election. Some of his allies have in recent weeks advanced a legal argument they say would justify his candidacy.

“He is not eligible under Congolese law to seek a third term. The United States regrets that President Kabila did not use his July 19th address to parliament to resolve the uncertainty regarding his intentions,” U.S. Deputy U.N. Ambassador Jonathan Cohen told the United Nations Security Council.

International pressure on Kabila, who succeeded his assassinated father in 2001, to leave office has grown since a November 2016 election was postponed. That sparked violent protests in which security forces have killed dozens of people.

DR Congo’s allies express concern

The United States and European Union have sanctioned several close Kabila allies accused of overseeing the crackdowns and obstructing the electoral process, moves Kabila denounced.

The U.N. Security Council and the African Union Peace and Security Council last week jointly “called upon all political parties, their supporters, and other political actors to remain committed to the 31 December 2016 Agreement, which is the only viable path out of the current political situation.”

Under an accord struck on Dec. 31 between Kabila’s representatives and opposition leaders, Kabila is barred from trying to change the constitution to seek a third term.

“President Kabila has committed repeatedly to respect the constitution and implement the December 2016 agreement. We’re a mere five months away from election day. The time for posturing is over,” Cohen said.

France and the United States questioned Congolese plans to use untested electronic voting machines and pushed authorities to state what assistance they need from the U.N. peacekeeping mission in the country, known as MONUSCO, to organize the polls.

“MONUSCO cannot afford to wait until the last moment to put a plan into action,” Cohen said.

Kabila put off a planned visit earlier this month by U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and refused to see U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley, who diplomats said had also separately planned to visit Kinshasa.

U.N. Security Council envoys are planning to visit Congo in October, diplomats said.

REUTERS

US President Donald Trump and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin will not hold a meeting in the near future as it had been announced previously, at least not until next year.

White House national security adviser John Bolton made the announcement on Wednesday, blaming the delay on the probe into the president’s alleged collusion with Moscow in the wake of the 2016 election in the United States, Politico reported.

In a statement distributed through the White House press pool, Bolton (pictured below) suggested that the so-called Russia probe would end by the end of this year and that his boss would come through it unscathed.

“The president believes that the next bilateral meeting with President Putin should take place after the Russia witch hunt is over, so we’ve agreed that it will be after the first of the year,” Bolton said.

This is while special counsel Robert Mueller has no hard deadline and there have been no indications about when the investigation would end.

The decision is apparently part of the administration’s efforts to reduce pressure after the Helsinki fiasco.

At a press conference following the recent summit in the Finnish capital, Trump backed the Russian leader’s idea about alleged meddling in the 2016 presidential election rather the American intelligence community’s.

Trump’s performance kicked off a hailstorm of criticism against Trump, forcing him to deny his comment about alleged Russian meddling.

Ever since Trump was inaugurated in January 2017, the US intelligence community has overwhelmingly maintained that Moscow sought to meddle in the 2016 election.

Russia has denied meddling in the election as well as being in possession of any damaging information on the US president.

Source: Presstv

As the fighting between the government and separatist fighters rages on in the country’s English-speaking regions, many authoritative voices are already coming out of the shadows to express their disappointment and frustration with the government’s failure to properly handle a situation that started as a strike by teachers and lawyers.

Ghana’s former president, Jerry Rawlings, has been very critical of the government and its French backers who have been looting the country for centuries. He castigated the French for their moral and ethical bankruptcy, urging the world to take appropriate action to ensure the killings of Southern Cameroonians by the Yaoundé government come to an abrupt end.

Speaking recently in a video that has gone viral on the Internet, Mr. Rawlings called for an end to the French government’s carte blanche which gives it the right to enjoy the natural resources in Southern Cameroons without paying attention to the plight of the suffering masses in the country’s English-speaking region.

Southern Cameroons is a resource-rich region and this has made it the center of attention in the Central African country of Cameroon. These resources have been a huge source of foreign earnings for the Yaounde government for decades, but very little of this money has trickled down to the people who inhabit the region. This, among other reasons, is at the center of the conflict that is tearing the country apart.

The country’s natural resources which should be a blessing have been transformed into a curse by a greedy government that has made waste its hallmark. Southern Cameroonians hold that they have to walk away from this unfortunate marriage with their Francophone compatriots that has only brought them death and destruction.

But this is certainly going to be very challenging as walking away from that ‘political marriage’ implies taking with them about 60% of the country’s wealth. Southern Cameroons natural wealth includes oil, gas, diamond and timber. Its rich sub-soil has brought lots of economic benefits 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.

Over the years, these resources have netted the government billions of dollars which are hardly reported in the country’s budget. In 2014 alone, Cameroon exported US$5.88 billion worth of products, of which US$2.65 billion, about CFAF 1,650 billion, was from crude oil. But the ordinary Southern Cameroonian has remained a sorry spectator of events in his country. He has always been watching from a distance as his wealth is being carried away to East Cameroon and, eventually, to France.

But beyond the unethical exploitation of the Southern Cameroonian, the government’s reputation has also been dented regarding its human rights record. The United Nations has openly indicted the Yaounde government for its huge appetite for torture and human rights violation.

Government agents and troops have been on a human rights violation spree across the country. In the English-speaking regions just as in the northern part of the country, government troops have made life a living hell for the people inhabiting these regions.

In Southern Cameroons, government militia are on the prowl for young Southern Cameroonian men who they hold pose a huge threat to the country. Many have been shot point blank even when not armed. Government forces have been ineffective against Southern Cameroonian fighters whose hit-and-run tactics have been very effective. Government troops and militia seem to be taking their frustration on innocent civilians.

In recent times, rape is also being used by government forces and militia as a weapon of choice to dehumanize Southern Cameroonian females. This week a video of a government army soldier raping a 17-year-old female in the northwest regional capital of Bamenda surfaced.

The world has been prompt at condemning such government-sponsored acts of brutality. This has resulted in the government announcing another investigation which will, of course, not produce any meaningful results. The world is still waiting for results of previous investigations of senseless killings by army soldiers. The Internet is awash with videos of abuses in northern Cameroon and in the English-speaking regions.

As response to these increasing abuses, the United Nations human rights chief on Wednesday, July 25, 2018, said he was “utterly appalled” by a recent video appearing to show Cameroonian soldiers shooting to death women carrying small children as suspected Boko Haram extremists.

“I am deeply worried that these killings captured on camera may not be isolated cases,” the statement by Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein said.

Mr. Zeid also said he was deeply alarmed by reports of abuses in Cameroon’s northwest and southwest regions where deadly fighting has grown between security forces and Anglophone separatists.

The unrest that began in 2016 when demands by teachers and lawyers calling for the respect of the regions’ English education and justice systems led to a government crackdown and the emergence of armed separatists seeking an English-speaking state.

The government in largely French-speaking Cameroon has barred the U.N. human rights office from those areas, Zeid said and this makes it hard for the abuses to be fully and objectively reported.

Human rights groups have accused both sides of abuses including torture and the burning of homes, and the U.N. has said more than 180,000 people have fled.

Mr. Zeid added that the government’s “heavy-handed security response” will only make life worse for civilians; a situation that has pushed many civilians to take refuge in the forests. The region’s jungle is today home to more than 30,000 civilians who are running away from government brutality.

The government has condemned separatist attacks and defended its security forces, saying all alleged atrocities are being investigated. However, the Yaoundé government is not known for any objective investigations. Besides, reports of such incidents are hardly published.

Warnings about Cameroon’s security crisis are growing as the Central African nation faces an October election in which 85-year-old President Paul Biya, in power since 1982, says he will run again.

Many moral and religious authorities around the world have been calling for an inclusive dialogue that will lead to a peaceful resolution of the conflict, including the Pope. But the government has been indifferent to calls for an inclusive dialogue and this is giving secessionists more confidence and time to spread their gospel. The government’s military action has transformed it into a monster and this has pushed the civilian population into the arms of secessionists who are making hay while the sun shines.

Meanwhile, last week, Human Rights Watch released a report that was damning to the government because of human rights abuses. Although Southern Cameroonian fighters were also taken to task for their actions, it was the Yaoundé government that took most of the punches from the human rights watchdog.

According to Humans Rights Watch in its July 19, 2018, report published in New York, “Government security forces and armed separatists have committed grave abuses against residents of Cameroon’s Anglophone region, Human Rights Watch said in a report released today. The region has been rocked by protests and violent clashes rooted in long-standing political grievances by the country’s Anglophone minority.”

The report, based on research in the region, satellite imagery and video analyses and entitled, “These Killings Can Be Stopped’: Abuses by Government and Separatist Groups in Cameroon’s Anglophone Regions” found that both government forces and armed separatists have abused civilians in the western part of the country, displacing over 180,000 people since December 2017.”

“Anglophone separatists have extorted, kidnapped and killed civilians, and prevented children from going to school. In response to protests and violence by armed separatists, government forces have killed civilians, used excessive force against demonstrators, tortured and mistreated suspected separatists and detainees, and burned hundreds of homes in several villages,” the report also adds.

“The human rights situation in Cameroon has reached crisis level and could still get much worse,” said Mausi Segun, Africa director at Human Rights Watch. “International action is needed to ensure that both sides protect civilians and ensure justice for crimes against them.”

Human Rights Watch has documented abuses by both government forces and a variety of separatist between late 2016 and May 2018. It interviewed 51 victims, relatives of victims, or witnesses of abuse, as well as 31 education and medical professionals, lawyers, and key international sources. The interviews were conducted in the northwest and southwest regions of Cameroon in April.

Cameroon has been caught in a downward political spiral that clearly needs a United Nations military intervention. Condemnations and calls for inclusive dialogue will surely not bring the warring factions to the negotiating table.

The world has to stop the genocide that is unfolding in Cameroon. The country’s government is incapable of addressing the issue. It lacks the resources and will to accomplish such a mission. Its faulty premise that military action will stop Southern Cameroonians from walking away is costing the country lots of money.

Besides, the country’s military is losing its soldiers to Southern Cameroonian fighters who have displayed great courage. Their determination and bravado have caused many army soldiers to desert. Even the government is concerned. The government’s concern is contained in a confidential ministerial order which has been leaked by Cameroon Concord News Group military sources.

The order, a copy of which was faxed to the Cameroon Concord News Group’s global headquarters in the United Kingdom, indicates that the government would no longer be sending its troops on foreign missions as it has discovered the number of desertions have skyrocketed. The memo has been signed by the country’s defense minister, Joseph Beti Assomo.

The world must therefore jump in to ensure that Cameroon does not unwind. A chaotic Cameroon is bad news to its neighbors who have had more than their fair share of political and military chaos. Cameroon is the sub-region’s largest and most developed country. Political chaos in Cameroon will surely affect trade and development. Chaos will roll back Cameroon’s neighbors into extreme poverty. The world still has time to prevent a meltdown of the sub-region. Long speeches and calls for inclusive dialogue have failed. This is the time to send a peace-keeping force to Cameroon to stop the chaos.

By Kingsley Betek and Irene Nanyongo

The violence in Cameroon’s Anglophone regions has reached unprecedented levels in recent months and shows no signs of stopping in the run up to presidential elections on 7 October. Neither side is inclined to negotiate as increasingly brazen separatist attacks are met with increasingly brutal responses from security forces.

On 12 July, at least 10 people were killed when suspected separatists attacked the defence minister’s convoy travelling between Kumba and Mbonge in the south-west region. A few days later on 17 July, security forces engaged separatist militants in a gun battle in Bamenda, capital of the north-west region.

These are but two examples of the acts of violence that are occurring on a weekly basis in Cameroon’s north-west and south-west regions. As usual it is the citizens who bear the brunt of the fighting.

In a June report, the International Crisis Group estimates that 163 people have been killed to date in the conflict – the majority of whom were civilians. The UNHCR estimates that at least 160,000 people have been displaced by the fighting and a further 20,000 have sought refuge in neighbouring Nigeria.

The current crisis in the Anglophone regions began in October 2016 with widespread protests against the central government’s continued marginalisation of Cameroon’s English-speaking community. The violence escalated a year later after secessionists declared the symbolic independence of the two western regions.

The government responded swiftly with mass arrests, bans on public gatherings, and the use of deadly force against civilians. Armed separatist groups proliferated as the security forces continued to militarise the Anglophone regions.

Although the current flare-up began in 2016, Cameroon’s “Anglophone problem” has its roots in the country’s colonial history. The north-west and south-west regions – previously administered by Britain – joined an independent federated Cameroon in 1961. A snap 1972 referendum abolished most the of the western regions’ autonomy and implemented centralised state control from Yaoundé.

In a way, the government’s response to the current Anglophone agitation is not surprising. It is the same tactic employed in the country’s Far North region where the state has been battling Boko Haram since 2014. Government forces have been repeatedly accused of arbitrarily killing or detaining citizens suspected of complicity with extremists.

Despite facing two insurgencies, President Paul Biya – in power since 1982 – retains a strong grip on power. On 13 July, the 85-year-old Biya announced his intention to run for re-election in October.

Holding elections in the north-west and south-west regions will be virtually impossible in the current climate of insecurity. This would significantly disadvantage the country’s largest opposition party whose support base is in the Anglophone regions.

The AU and Cameroon’s Western partners have repeatedly called for negotiations. Though the government agrees to the need for talks, it rejects any form of outside mediation.

The Catholic Church is the only local institution that could act as an independent mediator – it represents about one third of all Cameroonians and is present in all of the country’s 10 regions. Unfortunately the church seems to be riven by the same divisions as the rest of the country. Its inability to present a unified front thoroughly undermines its capacity as a facilitator of potential peace talks.

A more fundamental issue relates to what a successful resolution of the crisis would look like. The government will not except any form of succession. Moreover, it is not clear to what extent residents of the western regions actually support succession. What is clear, however, is that a majority of Anglophone Cameroonians support a peaceful resolution.

To this extent, the more moderate opposition leaders have been pushing for a political solution – calling either for a return to the power-sharing of federalism or for the devolution of power to regional leaders through decentralisation.

Despite some conciliatory noises and mostly hollow gestures, the government seems unlikely to grant any major concessions to Anglophone leaders. For their part, opposition leaders have not done enough to condemn separatist violence and encourage peaceful resistance.

A negotiated settlement is the only hope for a peaceful resolution of the current crisis. Unfortunately, given the entrenched positions of both the state and separatist militants, it is a rather slim hope at the moment.

Source: Daily Maverick

FOR decades Cameroon, wedged between central and west Africa, enjoyed a reputation for calm and stability while its neighbours were mired in a cycle of coups-d’état, wars and bloodshed. Yet today that stability is no longer guaranteed, and a long-simmering crisis is erupting. Protests, which began in October 2016 with Anglophone teachers and barristers demonstrating about French curricula and legal texts, have morphed into a conflict of kidnappings, beheadings and the torching of villages. What went wrong?

Cameroon was colonised by the Germans in the late 19th century, and after the first world war the League of Nations entrusted the administration of different parts to the British and the French. In 1961, lured by the promise of federalism, the formerly British-held North-West and South-West regions chose to join the newly independent and previously French-held Cameroon. But 11 years later, the country’s first president, Ahmadou Ahidjo reneged on the federalist deal and imposed a unitary state, governed from French-speaking Yaounde. In 1984 the current president, Paul Biya, changed the name of the country to the Republic of Cameroon (the name of the former Francophone territory) and removed from the national flag the second star, which represented the Anglophone regions. The effects are still felt today. Anglophones, who make up less than a fifth of the population, feel marginalised in almost every sphere of life, ranging from the allocation of state resources to political representation.

The government reacted to the spreading protests by dismissing the demonstrators as terrorists, throwing their leaders in jail and cutting off internet connections to the two Anglophone regions. This just created more problems. The leadership vacuum was filled by a range of separatist groups, with senior activists ranging from worried men in suits to armed criminals taking advantage of the chaos. Still angered by Ahidjo’s treachery almost half-a-century ago, Anglophones continue to complain that they were not given the option to set up their own state after independence. That has become one of the main demands of some fighters, who declared the establishment of the “Republic of Ambazonia” last October. The crisis has duly developed into a vicious war. Both sides have committed atrocities, but the Anglophones are paying the harshest price. More than 21,000 have fled to neighbouring Nigeria, while in south-west Cameroon entire settlements have become ghost villages, with more than 150,000 people displaced.

Worse, this is just one of three crises facing Cameroon. Northern parts have been affected by the Boko Haram insurgency spilling over from Nigeria. The jihadists’ campaign of suicide bombings and other attacks has forced almost 250,000 Cameroonians to flee their homes and led to the arrival of more than 95,000 Nigerians refugees. At the same time, over 230,000  refugees from the Central African Republic have come to eastern Cameroon, bringing with them a bloody struggle for power and access to natural resources. In the presidential election due for October, Mr Biya—Africa’s oldest ruler at 85—is expected to seek a seventh term in power. Mr Biya has no obvious successor, in a government anchored in sclerosis. Yet stability in Cameroon is vital not only for the region but for Africa at large. It is the biggest economy in central Africa, and for many people in Cameroon, Chad and the Central African Republic, the port of Douala is a life-line. Cameroon’s elite soldiers, arguably the most efficient in the region, have played a crucial role in the fight against Boko Haram and ISIS splinter groups. If Cameroon plunges further into chaos, other countries could be pulled down with it.

Culled from The Economist

US President Donald Trump says he does not want to rush to denuclearize North Korea under a deal he reached with Kim Jong-un last month, a shift in tone from when the US leader said the process would begin very soon.

“Discussions are ongoing and they’re going very, very well,” Trump told reporters on Tuesday. “We have no time limit. We have no speed limit.”

Trump also said that he had discussed Pyongyang with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday at their summit in Helsinki, Finland.

“President Putin is going to be involved in the sense that he is with us,” he said.

Trump and Kim met on June 12 in Singapore, the first between a sitting US president and a North Korean leader, and signed a joined document, committing to establishing new relations and achieving peace on the Korean Peninsula.

Before the summit, the Trump administration said denuclearization should start “without delay,” and after the meeting, it spoke of the process starting “very quickly.”

So far, however, no concrete progress has been reported and Pyongyang has complained the Americans are making unilateral demands.

Kim, prior to the meeting, said that the two leaders had “decided to leave the past behind” and that “the world will see a major change.”

Trump said he had formed a “very special bond” with Kim and that Washington’s relationship with Pyongyang would be very different.

However, last month Trump declared North Korea an “unusual and extraordinary threat” to the US as he acted to maintain harsh economic sanctions against Pyongyang.

“The existence and risk of proliferation of weapons-usable fissile material on the Korean Peninsula and the actions and policies of the Government of North Korea continue to pose an unusual and extraordinary threat to the national security, foreign policy, and economy of the United States,” Trump said.

Source: Presstv

President of Cameroon, Paul Biya, has confirmed his candidacy for presidential polls slated for October 7 this year.

This will be his seventh consecutive mandate which will also extend his reign till 2025. It will, however, be the fifth universal suffrage with multiple candidates.

The octogenarian who is considered one of Africa’s longest-serving leaders made the announcement vis his social media handles on early Friday morning.

Dear Compatriots in Cameroon & the Diaspora, Aware of the challenges we must take up together to ensure a more united, stable & prosperous Cameroon, I am willing to respond positively to your overwhelming calls. I will stand as Your Candidate in the upcoming presidential election, his post read.

Paul Biya of Cameroon

• Full Name/Age: Paul Biya, 85 years
• Profession: Technocrat/Politician
• Became President: November 1982, having served as Prime Minister since June 1975
• Predecessor: Ahmadou Ahidjo
• Presidential reign: 36 years. 43 years (PM and presidential era)

Source: Africa News

For close to two years, Cameroon, a poor and corrupt Central African country has been caught up in a downward spiral as the killing in the two English-speaking regions of the country take a turn for the worse.

A strike by teachers and lawyers has turned into an armed conflict between Southern Cameroonian separatists and the Yaoundé regime that has distinguished itself through its corruption and indolence.

The mismanagement of the crisis has shocked the entire world, with many in the international community calling into question, the government’s ability to run a country that has once been the envy of its neighbors.

In the month of May, things appeared to be slowing down, but over the last week, the killing demon has reared its ugly head as the government steps up its attacks that have resulted in the killing of over a thousand civilians and some two hundred separatists.

The world is horrified by these killings and several actors are using back channels to mount enormous pressure on the country’s ailing president, Paul Biya, who is considered as the architect of Cameroon’s descent into chaos.

The chaos is still playing out in several cities in Southern Cameroons. On Monday, July 9, 2018, there was intense fighting in Buea, a city Southern Cameroonians consider as their capital. The fighting resulted in the killing of six police officers by Southern Cameroonian fighters.

Residents of the city have reported that Monday was the worst day in their city. Southern Cameroonian fighters have finally decided to come to the cities so as to engage the ill-prepared army soldiers in street battles.

This is no good news for the Yaoundé regime that has been working tooth and nail to protect the city of Buea. Threats from Southern Cameroonian fighters have finally compelled the city’s mayor, Patrick Ekema, who had vowed to protect the city, to flee to Douala, East Cameroon’s major port city.

Even the South West region’s governor, Okala Bilai, has also taken up refuge in Douala as the pressure from Southern Cameroonian fighters mounts. It should be recalled that there is a “fatwa” on the heads of Mayor Ekema and Governor Bilai who have spent a greater part of the last two years insulting Southern Cameroonians.

In Limbe, Southern Cameroon’s major port city, residents were compelled to respect ghost town operations as they heard that the fighters had finally set foot in Buea. The city of Limbe has been insulated from the chaos that has been playing out in Southern Cameroons over the last one year and this has made it a safe haven for many who are fleeing other cities in search a peaceful sanctuary for themselves and their families.

But the pseudo-peace in Limbe will surely not last for a long time. Southern Cameroonian fighters who were initially lurking in forests around the region have made up their minds to come to the cities. They are sick and tired of constant attacks from mosquitoes and poisonous reptiles who consider their presence in the jungle as an unfriendly intrusion into their private space and territory.

Residents of Limbe know that they will soon be playing spectator to some violent attacks from Southern Cameroonian fighters. It is a matter of time. Other cities are already suffering as a result of the fighting. Schools and courts have remained closed in cities where there have been serious fighting. Businesses have been dealt a severe blow and poverty is gradually taking root among the suffering population. Limbe’s image as a peaceful environment is gradually being eroded.

With an influx of people coming from other cities, it is obvious that Southern Cameroonian fighters will use the opportunity to establish a foothold in the city. Residents of the city therefore have an interest to respect ghost town orders from the Southern Cameroons Interim Government that is widely considered as the legitimate authority in region.

For Southern Cameroons’ rural areas, life has become a tough interminable challenge. Schools have been closed for two years and the kids are gradually coming to terms with the fact that theirs will be a kingdom of illiteracy. Teachers have fled the villages and the make-shift infrastructure that was passing off as schools is crumbling at break-neck speed.

Today, most young men in Southern Cameroon’s rural areas have taken up residence in the jungles that offer more peace than their villages. Most of them are willingly joining the ragtag Southern Cameroonian Liberation Army that comprises many armed groups, some of which are turning their guns against their own brothers in arms.

As the fighting rages on, the Yaoundé government remains stubborn to appeals for a peaceful resolution. The government is wont to using unorthodox means to address its problems. It is therefore challenging for it to listen to even the voice of wisdom.

Ever since the crisis erupted, the country’s president, Paul Biya, also known as the owner of the country, has refused to listen to many respectable people across the world.

The Pope has had an opportunity to talk to Mr. Biya. Leaders of Western countries have advised him to pursue dialogue as a sure means out of the impasse. The African Union has offered to mediate. But all their pleas have fallen on deaf ears.

The Francophonie, for its part, is still prepared to play a great role in efforts at restoring peace to the country, but the country’s authorities are reluctant to accept all these offers of assistance and this is causing the situation to spiral out of control.

Mr. Biya and his collaborators have clearly opted to pursue a path that is causing the country to lose its youthful population. They seem to be frozen in time and their strong faith in old ways is putting the country in the spotlight for all the wrong reasons.

Across the country, some religious authorities have also called on the government to embrace dialogue in order to spare the country the agony it is going through. But all the wise counsel does not seem to be music to the government’s ears.

Recently, it was the U.S. Ambassador who delivered his government’s bold message to the country’s ailing president. Americans have clearly indicated that it is time for Mr. Biya to exit the political arena as his presence is only fanning embers of war. They hold that Mr. Biya should be focusing on his legacy rather than on holding power.

In their view, Cameroon’s political mess cannot be cleaned up by those who have created it. It is time for the old guard to yield the floor to a new crop of politicians who will place the people’s interest at the center of their actions. Mr. Biya and his entourage belong to the past, a past that has been characterized by corruption, injustice and arrogance.

Instead of taking such wise counsel seriously, the government instead sent its surrogates to TV and radio stations where they rained insults on the U.S. ambassador who was simply delivering a friendly message. Some of the surrogates even intimidated on national TV that they would kill the U.S. ambassador.

Strangely, none of those who uttered such irresponsible statements have been arrested for threatening a foreign dignitary with diplomatic immunity in Cameroon. To the Yaoundé regime, the U.S. ambassador was interfering in its internal affairs. But the U.S. government will not be interfering in Cameroon’s affairs when it grants the impoverished Central African country weapons and financial assistance to fight Boko Haram insurgents in the country’s northern region.

Right from the beginning of the crisis, the Biya regime has not really come out with a clear plan to address the legitimate demands of Southern Cameroonians. On the contrary, it has been seeking ways and means to distract and intimidate Southern Cameroonians.

The massive arrest of innocent civilians and the kidnapping of Southern Cameroonian leaders in Nigeria are among the strategies the government has used to prove that it has the ability and capability to lay to rest a rebellion that is proving that it will stand the test of time.

This week, it has come up with a new distraction which, in its view, will help to calm down tempers. It has announced the holding of presidential election in the first week of October 2018 in the hope that Cameroonians will rush to the polls. But presidential elections will not cut it. Mr. Biya, the most hated and corrupt Cameroonian, will surely be his party’s flag-bearer despite the wise counsel given to him by Americans and this will make the whole process predictable.

But Cameroonians will not be deceived. Elections during Mr. Biya’s time have been anything but transparent and fair. The 85-year-old Biya has total mastery of the electoral process. He has appointed his cronies to the election-organizing body and, being an iron fist in a velvet glove, he will be working through his crude territorial administration minister, Atanga Nji, to intimidate Senior Divisional Officers for them to do all they can for Mr. Biya to win the election.

Indeed, the results of the election are a foregone conclusion. While the opposition is still struggling to put its house together, Mr. Biya is already rolling out his malicious plan. The opposition is divided and some of the opposition party leaders are just too hungry to the point where they just want to get to the corridors of power.

A few opposition leaders do have some political cloud and popularity, but their chances of beating the corrupt Biya are slim. The Social Democratic Front, SDF, has a presidential candidate who understands the issues and is very engaging. Joshua Osih, considered as a candidate of the future, is currently in the United States to talk with Southern Cameroonian Diaspora.

He understands the Diaspora has a lot of influence on the population. Besides, he knows it is the Diaspora’s money that is helping the pool of willing Southern Cameroonian fighters to give the Biya regime a run for its money. A native of the South West region, Joshua Osih is considered by many at home and abroad as the person who may help to keep the country united within a federal structure, after all, his party has always called for Cameroon to be federal. But will the angry Southern Cameroonians listen to him?

Southern Cameroonians want to walk away from a fake marriage that has brought them a lot of pain and suffering. To them, federalism belongs to the past. They have been arrested and killed by the Yaoundé government for calling for federalism. For now, their mind is on seceding and this will imply walking away with about 60% of the country’s wealth. Southern Cameroons is blessed with many resources, including oil, gas, diamond and timber. Its rich sub-soil has brought lots of economic benefits 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.

Over the years, Cameroon has exported over US$5.88 billion worth of crude oil and other petroleum products per year and most of this money has never trickled down to the South-west region where the oil fields and refinery are located. The people of this region have been living in abject poverty, while the Yaoundé regime has been feasting. This is one of the many bones of contention that are threatening to tear the country apart.

Another candidate in the election is Barrister Akere Muna. A bright lawyer whose work both at home and abroad has made many people to take him seriously. He is bilingual and he understands the corrupt system that has brought death and destruction to the country. But the sins of his father are clearly working against him.

His father, Solomon Tandeng Muna, a one-time speaker of the House of Assembly and John Ngu Foncha, former vice-president, were those who spearheaded the movement for reunification of the two Cameroons. They both benefited from the system and made life easy for their children while the majority of Southern Cameroonians have been languishing in abject poverty.

Barrister Akere Muna may be a native of Southern Cameroons, but his father’s role in the disaster that has and is still visiting Southern Cameroons makes it hard for him to be that person who will deliver Southern Cameroons from its damnation.

In the South West region in particular, his name casts more doubts than hope. Reunification brought untold hardship to South West politicians such as N.N. Mbile, Chief Nyenty of Bachou Ntai, Chief Ayamba, Dr. E.M.L. Endeley and others who died in abject poverty due to the dirty politics Muna and Foncha played to the detriment of the South West region.

Muna and Foncha will never be forgiven in this part of the country, although both had openly apologized for their errors in 1993 during the All Anglophone Conference held in Buea.

Cameroon is going down the drain. This country can only be saved if there is an inclusive and sincere dialogue. Mr. Biya and his cohorts are still stuck in the past. They still hold that Cameroonians are stupid and will not remember the past. They are still getting it wrong. Cameroon is sitting on a keg of gun powder. The international community still has time to defuse this ticking time bomb before it goes off.

Presidential elections may be good, but in this context, they will not bring any meaningful change to the country. The voters’ registration process has been flawed right from the beginning. In the two English-speaking regions, there was virtually no registration. With the violence that is playing out in these two regions and the frustration in the French-speaking part of the country, it is clear that Cameroon is walking down the path of a national political disaster. The world has to stop Biya before he destroys Cameroon.

Mr. Biya should be dragged to the negotiating table. Solutions to Cameroon’s numerous problems could be found at the negotiating table. The world will forever be guilty if it allows Cameroon to implode. Mr. Biya and his collaborators have no intention of addressing the economic and political issues that are undermining the country’s development efforts. It is time to take the right decision. The world cannot continue to stand on the sidelines while Cameroonians kill each other.

By Kingsley Betek and Irene Nanyongo on assignment in Washington, D.C., United States of America