Crossing the Moungo Bridge from Douala gives you the feeling of arriving at a big family reunion. As you approach Tiko, one of the chief towns in the Fako County, you are greeted by children who have not been to school for the last two years but rehearsing the new Ambazonia national anthem. The situation is true for Manyu, Lebialem, Mezam, Menchum, Ndian, Meme, Kupe Muanenguba, Boyo and Fako.

Southern Cameroonians are talking of their baby nation with immense pride and hoping that the Interim Government is winning on the diplomatic front. The war has lasted barely two years and there are indications that it may drag for another decade which will eventually give Southern Cameroonians a good cause for celebration.

It is abundantly clear that there is going to be a referendum for independence in Southern Cameroons whether Biya and the French likes it or not and Ambazonians will vote decisively to split from French Cameroun.  The resistance that is being displayed by Southern Cameroonians on Ground Zero with the support of the Ambazonia Self-Defense Council Restoration Forces represents a major achievement for the leadership of the Interim Government.

After the plebiscite in 1961 and the fraudulent reunification on October 1, most of Southern Cameroons remains profoundly underdeveloped, especially in more remote areas in Lebialem, Akwaya, Menchum, Bui and Oku. The Acting President of the Federal Republic of Ambazonia, His Excellency Sisiku Ayuk Tabe noted during his last interview with the Cameroon Concord News Group that Ambaland is frequently misreported as being poor but its oil wealth and rich agricultural lands means that in GDP terms it is rich.

French Cameroun is heading towards collapse. The current proportion of Cameroon government’s revenue that is being consumed by the ruling CPDM crime syndicate and the Francophone dominated army is not sustainable. It will take considerable political courage for the Fulani-Beti-Ewondo military to tell Mr. Biya that he has overstayed his time.

The Interim Government (IG) of Southern Cameroons should establish an effective military force to deal with the rampant insecurity created by Mr. Biya and his appointees in Southern Cameroons and they should avoid following the route of other former African liberation movements which have succumbed to autocracy when in power. Like the great Sisiku Ayuk Tabe, Mola Sako Ikome should contribute his own quota and be ready to hand over the baton of command.

Southern Cameroons/Ambazonia was an independent state long before it joined La Republique du Cameroun. So, the Interim Government does not need to bother itself about continued negotiation with French Cameroun on sharing oil wealth and border demarcation. The greatest blunder the international community could make would be to juxtapose the establishment of the new Federal Republic of Ambazonia and the failures of the Biya regime in Yaoundé. The creation of the Federal Republic of Ambazonia should be seen by the US and the European Union as a bold step to create the necessary conditions for sustainable peace and security in Sub Saharan Africa.

Southern Cameroonians in the Diaspora who are busy creating funny organizations in order to undermine the authority of the Interim Government should understand that since the very beginning of the Southern Cameroons revolution, many of the problems faced by Southern Cameroonians on Ground Zero have been blamed on the Biya Francophone Beti Ewondo regime. This will no longer be possible as the international community prepares to start mediating. Expectations are very high and Southern Cameroonians on Ground Zero will no more tolerate any nonsense from the Diaspora. The hard work of turning our fledgling Southern Cameroons nation into a functioning state with its own army will have to begin and end with the IG.

By Sessekou Asu Isong, London

Clashes between insurgents fighting for a breakaway republic in Cameroon’s English-speaking region and security forces have killed scores of people and displaced tens of thousands more since the conflict intensified late last year.

In the bloodiest incident to date, Cameroonian forces surrounded and killed more than two dozen suspected separatists in the town of Menka, in Cameroon’s Northwest Region, last weekend.

Insurgents have abducted and killed soldiers and policemen in hit-and-run guerrilla raids. Cameroonian forces have responded with scorched earth tactics such as burning down villages then opening fire on fleeing residents, witnesses told Reuters in February. The army denies such accusations.

The unrest threatens the stability of one of Africa’s larger economies ahead of October elections widely expected to extend 85-year-old President Paul Biya’s three and a half decades in power. It has hurt cocoa output and risks spilling into Nigeria.

WHY IS CAMEROON DIVIDED?

At the end of World War One, the League of Nations carved up Germany’s imperial possessions in Africa between allied victors, mostly Britain and France.

Most of the German colony of Kamerun – a swathe of central Africa housing peoples speaking 250 languages – went to France. A small part went to Britain.

At independence in 1960, English speakers were given the choice of remaining part of Cameroon or joining bigger neighbour Nigeria, a former British territory.

They voted to stay with Cameroon, but have since felt increasingly marginalized by the French-speaking government in Yaounde hundreds of miles away.

They say the best government jobs go to French speakers, and that education, roads and health in their western region are neglected, despite Cameroon having produced tens of thousands of barrels of oil a day since the 1970s, mostly in the south-west, an English-speaking region.

WHAT DO THE SEPARATISTS WANT?

Initially most Anglophones in Cameroon wanted their grievances addressed. A minority wanted an independent state, which they call “Ambazonia”.

However, since late 2016 a heavy-handed response to protests – including the jailing of some English-speaking activists and sympathisers – has convinced many that only severance from Cameroon will satisfy their yearning for a better life.

The Ambazonians have printed passports, designed a currency and a flag, composed a national anthem and set up a satellite TV station.

Many of their most influential figures are in exile in Europe and the United States, however.

They also have a vocal presence on social media, reflecting the Anglophone region’s reputation as an unlikely but successful tech hub, dubbed “Silicon Mountain”.

HOW DID IT TURN VIOLENT?

In October 2016 lawyers and teachers in English-speaking cities went on strike in protest at having to use French in schools and courtrooms.

In the ensuing clashes, six protesters were killed and hundreds arrested, some of whom were put on trial for charges carrying long sentences or the death penalty.

Authorities cut Internet access for three months. Support for secession grew, and on Oct. 1, 2017 – the anniversary of the region’s independence from Britain – thousands took to the streets to demand a breakaway state. The military stepped in.

Witnesses said troops opened fire from attack helicopters; the military denied this. Thousands of Anglophones fled the ensuing crackdown, which Cameroon authorities said was necessary to restore peace and curb banditry. They described it as an anti-terrorist operation.

A month later, separatists launched the first guerrilla attacks on security forces, killing four over a few days.

WHAT IS THE WIDER IMPACT?

Cameroon’s 180,000 barrels per day of oil output is mostly offshore and its main economic hubs – the port of Douala and the capital Yaounde – have been unaffected.

But cocoa fields in the world’s fourth biggest producer have been left fallow and Cameroon’s nascent tech sector has withered.

Most of the displaced are in Cameroon but more than 20,000 refugees have fled to Nigeria, which Cameroonian authorities have long feared could become a rear base for a guerrilla campaign.

WHAT ARE OTHER COUNTRIES DOING?

In theory, a destabilised west Cameroon might suit Nigeria. Abuja accepted a 2002 International Court of Justice ruling that the disputed and oil-rich Bakassi peninsula, part of the Anglophone south-west, belonged to Cameroon, despite having come close to war over it several times. But Nigeria periodically grumbles about it.

So far, Nigeria has cooperated, deporting separatists including Julius Ayuk Tabe, a key leader. Diplomats say it needs Cameroon’s help in fighting Islamist militant group Boko Haram, which plagues the neighbours’ common border up north.

Britain and France have kept their distance, conscious of post-colonial rivalry pitting them against each other in African civil conflicts – as in Rwanda in the early 1990s when English-speaking Tutsi rebels battled Francophone Hutus. France has condemned separatist violence and urged dialogue. Britain has “encouraged the parties to reject violence.”

WHAT NEXT?

Biya, who has ruled virtually by decree since replacing a retired predecessor in 1982, is almost certain to win an October election. In 2011, he won by 78 percent. His leadership style coupled with long absences overseas – usually to Switzerland with his wife – makes a goodwill gesture to smooth things over unlikely.

The poll will be difficult to organise in the hostile Anglophone region. Anywhere where voting fails to happen could ignite in fresh bouts of unrest. There is also an outside chance that the low-level insurgency could escalate into a broader civil conflict, if enough people join the rebellion and if they get enough arms.

Nigeria’s next door delta region is awash with cheap weapons and criminal gangs who would be willing to sell, although cooperation by its authorities has denied the rebels a convenient base.

Source: www.channelnewsasia.com

A new greatness awaits the Federal Republic of Ambazonia, but Southern Cameroonians must define it. Our top political priority over the next two years of the resistance should be to deny recognition to any Southern Cameroons group that does not take directives from the Interim Government. Clearly, the tables have turned. We now have a US administration coming up with a very different agenda on how to deal with the vicious regime in Yaoundé.

The all-out onslaught by the Trump administration against the Biya Francophone Beti Ewondo regime has left Yaoundé reeling, scrambling to protect its leader Paul Biya and people they hold dear. The Ambazonia Self-Defense Council Restoration Forces have been resisting with unprecedented levels of energy, and the resistance has been working shockingly well so far.  It is evidently clear that the Biya regime is approaching its end and French Cameroun is going to be on fire.  Southern Cameroonians living in La Republique du Cameroun need to think and rethink things. There is need to change as they can’t keep playing CPDM game: they need to go back to our Anglo-Saxon principles and help in crafting our own, new vision for what the Ambazonian nation should be.

Biya’s incoherent speeches, his disregard for genuine dialogue with the leadership of the Interim Government and his obvious personal flaws has put him at daggers-drawn positions with Europe, Australia and the United States. Biya no longer has the support of the even the Central Committee members of his ruling party to propel him to the Presidency this 2018.

Since the meeting with the US ambassador, the war in Southern Cameroons has gotten worse and Ambazonians recently lost one of their brave commanders Fru Akuma. This was followed by the killing of George Nwangi at Nguti by French Cameroun army soldiers.  Southern Cameroonians have never been more unified on any one topic than its dislike for the one and indivisible Cameroon.  It’s natural at this point in time for every Southern Cameroonians to rally behind the Interim Government and focus on the resistance. Ambazonians should remember that powerful institutions such as the IG are almost always defined by what they are for, not what they are against.

As long as we’re only resisting, we’re waiting for the Biya regime to launch another attack. Not only will we be always on the defensive, we’ll limit our imaginations to a reality within the boundaries of Biya and French Cameroun’s world.  Mindful of the unprecedented levels of participation by the US, Nigeria and above all France, it’s unlikely we’ll be able to effectively resist every move.

Winning this war and securing the Ambazonian territory is not about chasing Biya and his gangs out of Yaounde as the Americans and the French have agreed. That has its own problems. Winning is not about seeing opponents in French Cameroun bleeding. Winning is far grander: channeling unprecedented levels of consolidating and multiplying our territorial gains into an idea for Southern Cameroons that not only combats the corrosive policies we’ve seen in La Republique, but can lead to a permanently better future for all Ambazonians.

It’s not a surprised that no French Cameroun politicians who oppose Biya have come out with clear messages about how to advance a progressive agenda in the current crisis in Southern Cameroons. Perhaps they’re just as taken aback by the Biya assault as the rest of us Ambazonians.

The race to succeed Biya has evoked some powerful discussions about where Ambazonians go next. The Acting President of the Federal Republic of Ambazonia, Sisiku Ayuk Julius Tabe long made a case for the future of the territory and his favorite articulation stands tall on “My Trip to Buea”. The reality is that every Southern Cameroonian wants to have an independent state. Consequently, the resistance must demonstrate to the world our inclusive, moral, powerful one and togetherness behind our IG that we want to see beyond the struggle for independence. That togetherness will not only carry us through an inevitably difficult war of independence, but well into the future. It’s difficult for misguided Southern Cameroonians such as Cho Ayaba and Boh Herbert to think that way right now, but it has never been more necessary.

By Sessekou Asu Isong, London

Listen up, France: If you want to help avert a full-scale civil war in Cameroon (you still have major economic interests in your former colony), it’s time to take a tougher line against its long-serving president, Paul Biya. That’s the urgent appeal this week from a group of (unnamed) French and Cameroonian observers and published by Libération, a French daily.

Over the past two years, hundreds of people have been killed and some 160,000 have fled their homes during armed conflict between government forces and anglophone separatists. Insurgents have targeted security forces, elected officials, and teachers, and the army has torched entire villages. “The international community, and especially France, must encourage the government towards dialogue, which it has so far refused,” the observers urged, blaming the government’s intransigence in the face of anglophone calls for greater autonomy.

With human rights groups banned from visiting conflict areas, a bishop from the would-be mediating Catholic Church targeted in an assassination attempt, and the press muzzled, such a move by France would raise hopes for a ceasefire and help dispel anglophone perceptions of its bias towards Biya. More on this under-reported conflict soon.

Source: Irinnews.org

For more than five months, the Yaounde government has been quietly implementing its genocide plan as the international community looks the other way. Over the last five months, the government has been shooting and killing many male southern Cameroonians on the pretext that they are terrorists.

Villages across the two English-speaking regions have simply been wiped off the country’s map through a scorch-earth policy that many in the international community have frowned upon. Amnesty International and the International Crisis Group have all called the government’s action against Southern Cameroonians into questions. The world is simply marveled at the commitment of such human rights abuses.

In villages such as Kwakwa and Kembong in the South West region, the government simply destroyed the villages. Its plan was to intimidate the people into submission but the strategy has so far been counter-productive. In Kwakwa, many old people were burnt alive by government forces as a move to punish the entire population for the killing of an army soldier by some unknown and unidentified gunmen.

The buzzword now in Cameroon is terrorism and anybody who holds a view that is contrary to the government’s is considered a terrorist. Mbonge, Bali and Batibo have all been victims of the Yaounde government’s malicious policy designed to stamp out any opposition.

In Etoko in Manyu Division, a young lady and her brother were shot point blank last week by young Beti soldiers who hold that the government is theirs and any challenge to the dictatorial system must be addressed through brute force and Hitler-style brutality.

The worst of the government’s brutality was discovered on Friday, May 26, 2018 when at least 30 Southern Cameroonians were slaughtered in cold-blood in Menka- Pinyin in the North West region and in other locations in the South West region.

In trying to sway national and international opinion, the military rushed its spokesperson to deliver an unconvincing explanation for such acts of brutality by a military that has reduced itself to the level of a ragtag army. A flimpsy explanation by the country’s military spokesperson, Colonel Didier Badjeck, has left many in the international community with the feeling that Mr. Biya and his government do not want a peaceful resolution of the conflict. The government is yet to show any arms the suspects had used or any evidence that they were plotting anything sinister. Killing innocent young men has been its modus operandi and this is eroding its credibility in the eyes of some members of the international community who are already questioning why the UN is not intervening to end the bloodbath.

This week has been a bloody one. It is like the hunting season has been opened and the blood has been flowing. A similar attack also took place on Friday in Mbalangi, a small settlement in the South West region where some 22 young men were left to die in their own blood.  In Santa Sub-division, the country’s Territorial Administration minister, Paul Atanga Nji, reportedly planned and ordered government forces to use conventional explosives on innocent civilians. This has been decried by a  senior Roman Catholic clergy who is concerned about the road the country has taken over the last two years. It should be mentioned that the Catholic church on Thursday, May 24, organized a protest march against the killing of innocent people in the country’s English-speaking regions.

This week’s assaults are part of an indiscriminate campaign by Mr. Biya’s sex-starved and drug-inflamed forces to retake control of the territory now known as the Federal Republic of Ambazonia.  It has been reported that the government has given strict orders to hospital officials not to treat Southern Cameroonians with gunshot wounds. The government seems to be engaged in a dangerous path of self-destruction and the international community seems to have made up its mind not to act while the genocide is still in its infancy.

The murders come on the heels of a scathing criticism of the aging and reckless Yaounde regime by the U.S. Ambassador, Peter Barlerin, who used an audience with the country’s president, Paul Biya, to call for an end to the senseless and targeted killings in the two English-speaking regions.

Mr. Barlerin also called on Mr. Biya to think of his legacy, a coded way of telling the Yaounde dictator not to run in the upcoming presidential election. It should, however, be pointed out that Mr. Biya has no legacy for Cameroonians. After more than 35 years in power, Mr. Biya has transformed the country into an Augean Stables wherein the people have been pauperized and corruption institutionalized.

Besides making tribalism a key component of his politics, Mr. Biya will be remembered as the worst man-made catastrophe that has ever befallen Cameroon. Under Mr. Biya, many priests and nuns have been killed and many Cameroonians have simply disappeared. Though touting himself as a democrat, Cameroonians do know him as an iron fist in a velvet glove.

The carnage taking place in the English-speaking regions of the country will be one event that will never leave the minds of many Southern Cameroonians for centuries to come. The government’s violence has only succeeded to breed revenge and hatred among the population.

It should be recalled that Mr. Biya is using an old strategy employed against the Bassas and Bamilekes during the struggle for independence. The strategy might have worked at the time, but it will surely flop this time around as Southern Cameroonians will only step up their campaign to secede from French Cameroon that has dominated them for more than five decades.

The Southern Cameroons crisis has put the country in the spotlight for all the wrong reasons and its impact will linger for a very long time. Government brutality has been widely condemned. But the Yaounde government seems to be turning a deaf ear to the criticisms of some recognized voices around world.

According to a United Nations official who spoke to Cameroon Concord News Group on condition of anonymity, the Biya era is quietly coming to an end and actions by the government are simply making it hard for any reasonable person to have any respect for the 85-year-old Biya who erroneously thinks the country belongs to him.

“A country cannot belong to anybody. Mr. Biya is making the same mistakes Mr. Mubutu of Zaire made; mistakes that let to his destruction. Mr. Biya should be looking into the mirror of history in order to avoid such dumb mistakes. At 85, he should know that his days are numbered and it is in his interest to think about living Cameroon a better place than he met it,” he said.

“Mr. Biya should be listening to his conscience. He has lost credibility. Within international circles, many people have nothing but disrespect for him. He has failed and he is a disgrace to country like Cameroon that has lots of intellectuals. He should understand that he has had more than his fair share of power even when he has never won any election. There is no way he is going to win this war. The actions of his military are simply fueling violence. Southern Cameroonians will surely resort to more kidnappings as a way of venting their anger. They will also be killing innocent soldiers and policemen who are even against the war. It is really unfortunate that many young soldiers are losing their lives for a man who is just a few meters away from his grave,” the international civil servant said.

Meanwhile, some Southern Cameroonians including Mr. Mancho Bibixy, were sentenced on Friday. All those who were awaiting sentencing were handed long jail terms, all of which are over ten years. Many analysts have questioned the appropriateness of the sentences. A senior Southern Cameroonian lawyer resident in the United States made a mockery of the sentences. He said Mr. Biya and his cohort of old and tired collaborators would soon be leaving the world and none of them would be around to see those who have been sentenced complete their jail terms.

He said that before long, Mr. Biya would be history as he is struggling with prostate cancer and a failing heart. Besides, the stress on him is enormous and this could be seen in the way he walks. His May 20 appearance only pointed to the fact that his days were numbered as he could not even cover half a kilometer on foot.

The Southern Cameroons crisis that has been playing out for almost two years has finally entered a critical phase. While Southern Cameroonian fighters are making a mockery of the government’s military action, the Yaounde government is now scrambling for a peaceful resolution as it has noticed that it is dealing with a very dicey situation. The government is under enormous pressure as the killing of army soldiers has become a daily ritual.

It is becoming clear to the government that there will never be a convincing military victory in this battle that will surely last for decades. Friday’s killings and sentencing of Southern Cameroonians will only cause the violence to flare. The government might be throwing some deadly punches, but it knows it is gradually losing its power and authority.

Cameroon will never be the same again. While secession could be hard to obtain, the government should understand that it will not easily re-establish its authority in the English-speaking regions and, before long, French-speaking Cameroonians will jump into the fray as their economic situation continues to deteriorate.

Currently, the dynamics are changing. The government’s arrogance is gradually being eroded by the determined Southern Cameroonian fighters whose actions have struck fear in the minds of many army soldiers. The government is today staring down the barrel of defeat, as its treasury continues to lose money and its soldiers feeling really despondent as they face the prospect of dying in the rocky mountains and dense jungles of Southern Cameroons.

Many government officials know that defeat is staring the government in the face. Many want to sue for peace, but they don’t know how to proceed as their arrogance has muddied the waters and made reconciliation challenging.

For close to two years, the supporters of the Yaounde regime have been beating the drums of war and young Beti soldiers stationed in the English-speaking regions have been spreading death and destruction. Many young men have been gunned down point blank and many houses have been burnt down in a bid to strike fear into many Southern Cameroonians who have clearly expressed their support for a rebellion they hold will bring them independence and a better life.

As the violence escalates, the fear of a larger catastrophe is looming large on the horizon. The fighting is very likely to take a new and dangerous dimension in the days ahead. The Ambazonian Interim Government has given all French-speaking Cameroonians right up to May 31, 2018 to leave the newly created Federal Republic of Ambazonia otherwise known as Southern Cameroons. Any French-speaking Cameroonians who do not heed this advice will surely have themselves to blame and the Ambazonian Defense forces are already coming up with an implementation plan. They will be implementing the law as prescribed by the Interim Government.

The message delivered by the Interim government’s communication secretary, Chris Anu, underscores that any French-speaking Cameroonian caught in Southern Cameroons after the prescribed deadline will be considered a criminal alien whose intention is to destabilize the fatherland. This crime carries the capital punishment and the different armed groups have been called upon to enforce the law accordingly.

The message also stresses that all Southern Cameroonians housing French-speaking Cameroonians have an obligation to send them out before the expiry of the deadline. Failure to comply with the laws of the land could result in severe punishment, including the burning of their property. The message has been clearly articulated in an audio message issued by Mr. Chris Anu, the Communication Secretary of the Southern Cameroons Interim Government. It is therefore in the interest of all Southern Cameroonians to be law-abiding. Southern Cameroons will never be chaotic, and any lawless elements will be promptly taken into newly built green jails in Southern Cameroons.

The Interim Government’s message looks like an empty threat, but it should be taken seriously. Over the last two weeks, the Yaounde government has been gunning down many young Southern Cameroonians and the whole world has been playing spectator to the killings. The American government has been very critical of the government’s targeted killings. The international community has been horrified by such acts of criminality, but the Yaounde government has remained indifferent to the plea of some of the respected voices in the world.

This therefore calls for self-defence. Southern Cameroonians have a right to self-defence and they want to use that right to protect themselves. They have clearly stated that they can no longer share the same geo-political space with their French-speaking counterparts. The government has been indifferent to their plea for years and they think now is the time for them to take those actions that will bring them the independence they need.

The government can no longer go about killing Southern Cameroonians with impunity. The world can also no longer stay on the sidelines as if Southern Cameroonians are simply lab animals that can just be disposed of anyhow.  Over the last five months, many innocent Southern Cameroonians have been sent to an early grave by young, sex-starved and alcohol inflamed Beti soldiers who erroneously think they are there to protect the Yaounde government that has outlived its usefulness.

In a reaction to the Interim Government’s order, a young Red Dragon fighter who has been in the jungles of Lebialem for more than six months said that “Francophones have an interest to comply with what the Interim Government has said. We are running out of patience and will surely be staging a show that will shock the world once the deadline expires.”

He added that “Let nobody think this is an empty threat. We have seen our brothers and sisters being killed by government forces and we are ready to revenge. There will be a bloodbath after the expiry of the Interim Government’s order. We have faith in our Interim Government and we will do all what it takes to ensure that the laws of the land are respected. If the Yaounde government thinks this is a joke, then it has not yet understood that it has a huge crisis on its hands. We are prepared to die. We have been enslaved for decades and now is the time to liberate our land. We have never thought that independence will come easy. We know it is never delivered on a platter of gold. We are aware of what happened to Eritrea, South Sudan and even in faraway Timor Leste. We are well read. We are also university graduates, but the government’s decision to declare a war on us will turn out to be its greatest undoing. If the world is still on the sidelines, then it really wants to play spectator to a Rwanda-style genocide at the end of the month. We will be staging a massive show that will shock everybody. We never asked for this war. It was imposed on us and we will do all in our power to end the oppression that has been ours for decades.”

While senior government officials are still trying to put on a brave face, many in the corridors of power are already very concerned. Southern Cameroonians have put up a good show beyond everybody’s wildest imagination and their determination is being admired by many French-speaking Cameroonians. But their recent move to chase French-speaking Cameroonians out of their land spells a huge disaster for the government.

For months, the government has been adamant to calls for an inclusive dialogue. Ever since the crisis started, the country’s president, Paul Biya, also known as the owner of the country, has refused to listen to many respectable voices 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 once offered to mediate.

But he has remained tone deaf to these calls and his refusal is costing many lives. He too is putting a brave face, but American pressure seems to be paying off. Behind the scenes, the pennies seem to be dropping. The government wants to talk, but it has not got an interlocutor. It had arrested and delegitimized federalists in 2017. In 2018, Southern Cameroonian leaders were kidnapped in Nigeria and brought to Yaounde where they are being held incommunicado. Those are the people the government should be talking to if it has developed the right mind that can bring peace to the country.

The situation is spiraling out of control. Mr. Biya is losing support even within his own party. The Southern Cameroons crisis is surely that issue that will blow up the ruling party. The dissenting voices are increasing and the pressure on Mr. Biya is mounting. Some ruling party members hold that if Mr. Biya steps down, there could be a possibility for a negotiated settlement. Many ruling party members do not like the country to be split, but the manner in which Mr. Biya and his cohorts have handled the Southern Cameroons crisis leaves many of his supporters with no other option but to ask him to leave power.

From every indication, Mr. Biya’s time is over. His soldiers may be killing Southern Cameroonians, but they will not kill their resolve to become an independent nation. The slaughtering of a people has never killed an idea. It simply makes it sprout like ragweed. Southern Cameroonians understand that independence will never be handed to them on a platter of gold. They know they are in for a long haul. They are aware of the challenges East Timor and Eritrea faced. They are prepared to stay the course. They would not want those who have already die to be forgotten so soon.

They are their heroes and they can only be hailed as heroes in an independent Southern Cameroons. They therefore have a reason to fight on. The road ahead may be long, but the hope of delivery future generations from the oppression and exploitation of East Cameroon will continue to fill them with the determination to fight on. The light at the end of the tunnel may seem far away, but the Southern Cameroonian will be remembered in history as the Spartan that will die, but will never surrender. The two cubes of sugar will not be melting anytime soon and the Yaounde government is sure about that.

The response to the massacres will surely come if the international community does not protect Southern Cameroonians against their “protectors.” The fear is that the response may come, but unfortunately as a mushroom cloud.  Southern Cameroonians are willing to erode the government’s credibility until it collapses. Losing a battle does not imply losing a war. The Amba fighters have simply been given a reason to wreak havoc.

The government has made its way into a maze. It will not be getting out of this war anytime, soon. Mr. Biya has gambled and his gamble may only make Southern Cameroons independent. East Cameroonians will never forgive him for mishandling this crisis. His actions are simply guaranteeing Southern Cameroonians their independence. There is no more room for dialogue. Southern Cameroonians hold that they have crossed the Rubicon and they will never want to live again with their French-speaking counterparts. Cameroon has been split by the actions of an 85-year-old demented president. The mess he has created will surely take him to his grave. Cameroonians in their generality are simply calling on the international community to come and protect them against their supposed protector. The international community should wake up and smell the coffee.

By Kingsley Betek in Bamenda

Two Cameroonian ministers have responded to remarks by the United States ambassador who late last week accused government of complicity in deadly violence in the restive Anglophone regions.

First was Information Minister Issa Tchiroma Bakary who in an interview with the RFIchannel insisted that the nation was rather the victim to secessionist violence. “I am really surprised at the statement of US Ambassador, We are victims, the nation as a whole a victim,” he said.

In a more formal response, the Minister of External Relations issued a statement calling on the diplomat to respect Cameroonians.

It added in part that the country was never going to allow a leader to be imposed on it by the west – in apparent reference to the call by the ambassador for president Biya to start thinking about his political legacy.

Ambassador Peter Henry Barlerin had met with President Paul Biya in Yaounde to discuss bilateral issues ahead of the May 20 national unity day.

In a read out issued by the U.S. embassy in Yaounde, the ambassador said government forces and separatists were culpable in violence in the two regions – northwest and southwest.

He added that government was employing targeted killings and also detaining people without recourse to the law.

Meanwhile, the position of the ambassador was buttressed by the bishop of Mamfe, a town located in the southwest region.

According to Bishop Andrew Nkea, dialogue was needed urgently to avert a useless and senseless civil war in which the government and separatists were committing grave crimes against the people.

The bishop stressed that whiles the army was burning down entire villages, the separatists were also burning down schools and other state institutions. The international Crisis Group has identified the church as the most potent political mediator.

Its April 26 report titled: Cameroon’s Anglophone Crisis: How the Catholic Church Can Promote Dialogue, averred that the clergy needed to united with a strong common position (between federalism vs. decentralisation) in order to be seen as credible mediators.

Source: Africa News

Cameroon’s government has blasted the United States for accusing its forces of abuses, including “targeted killings,” in an English-speaking region of the country wracked by a separatist insurgency.

In a statement received by AFP on Thursday, the foreign ministry said it had expressed its “deep disapproval” of comments made by US ambassador in Yaounde, Peter Barlerin, last week.

His action “violates all diplomatic conventions as well as the rules of civility and law, both in style and substance,” it said.

Barlerin was summoned to the foreign ministry on Tuesday, four days after alleging government forces had carried out “targeted killings” and other abuses against militants demanding independence for two English-speaking regions.

“On the side of the government, there have been targeted killings, detentions without access to legal support, family, or the Red Cross, and burning and looting of villages,” the ambassador said in a statement.

“On the side of the separatists,” he also stressed, “there have been murders of gendarmes, kidnapping of government officials, and burning of schools”.

The statement followed warnings by rights watchdogs over abuses in the conflict. It was issued after Barlerin met Cameroon’s 85-year-old president, Paul Biya.

The foreign ministry statement said such allegations were “totally unfounded.”

“Despite almost daily harassment and heavy losses in terms of lives and equipment, (the security forces) have always kept in mind, with professionalism and rigour, the rules of engagment and international humanitarian law.”

Anglophones account for about a fifth of Cameroon’s population of 22 million.

Most of them live in the Northwest and Southwest regions that in colonial times were administered by Britain, joining francophone Cameroon after it gained independence from France in 1960.

Decades of resentment about perceived marginalisation in education, the judiciary and the economy escalated last year, culminating in the announcement on October 1 of a putative separate state called Ambazonia.

According to the International Crisis Group (ICG) think tank, “at least 120” civilians and “at least 43” security forces have been killed since the end of 2016.

The UN’s Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) says around 160,000 people have been internally displaced and 20,000 have sought refuge in neighbouring Nigeria as a result of the violence.

Source:AFP

US President Donald Trump has called off his planned summit meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un.

The unprecedented summit was scheduled to take place on June 12 in Singapore.

Trump made the announcement in a letter released by the White House on Thursday.

“I was very much looking forward to being there with you,” Trump said in the letter. “Sadly, based on the tremendous anger and open hostility displayed in your most recent statement, I feel it is inappropriate, at this time, to have this long-planned meeting.”

On Tuesday, Trump expressed doubts about the meeting taking place as scheduled when he hosted South Korean President Moon Jae-in at the White House.

Moon’s visit to the US was originally arranged as a meeting to fine-tune a joint strategy for dealing with North Korea but instead became more of a crisis session after Pyongyang last week threatened to scrap plans for the summit.

The summit’s cancellation is a major blow to what Trump supporters hoped would have been the biggest diplomatic achievement of his presidency.

The White House was caught off-guard when North Korea condemned the latest US-South Korean military drills, suspended North-South talks, and threatened to cancel the Trump-Kim summit.

Washington will “have to undertake careful deliberations about the fate of the planned North Korea-US summit in light of this provocative military” said the North’s official news agency KCNA on Tuesday.

The United States, which has substantial presence in South Korea, was on a war footing with the North over Pyongyang’s nuclear and missile programs. But relations have dramatically improved in the past four months and a half.

Pyongyang has also announced plans to dismantle its Punggye-ri nuclear test site by the end of May, prior to the North Korea-US summit meeting. It has also suspended its missile and nuclear programs but has not publicly committed to abandoning those programs.

Source: Presstv

US President Donald Trump has said his summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un “may not work out” in June, raising further doubt about whether the historic meeting would occur as planned.

Trump made the comment during a meeting with South Korean President Moon Jae-in in the Oval Office of the White House on Tuesday.

“We’re moving along. We’ll see what happens,” Trump told reporters. “There are certain conditions we want to happen. I think we’ll get those conditions. And if we don’t, we won’t have the meeting.”

The US president did not specify the conditions Washington was setting for the landmark meeting due in Singapore on 12 June.

“There is a very substantial chance that it won’t work out, but that’s OK,” he added. “It doesn’t mean it won’t work out over a period of time, but it may not work out for June 12. But there is still a good chance we’ll have the meeting.”

The South Korean president, for his part, expressed optimism about the occurrence of the planned summit between Trump and Kim, and said he was “confident” that the meeting between the two sides would be a success.

“We are looking forward to the first US-North Korea summit and we find ourselves standing one step closer to the dream of achieving the complete denuclearization of the Korean peninsula and world peace,” Moon said.

“I have no doubt that you will be able to complete and accomplish an historic feat that no one has been able to achieve in the decades past,” he added.

During the Tuesday talks in the Oval Office, Trump said he believed the North Korean leader was “absolutely very serious” about denuclearization and stressed that Kim’s safety would be guaranteed under any deal that eliminated his nuclear weapons.

Pyongyang threatened last week to scrap plans for what would be a historic meeting between Trump and Kim in Singapore on June 12 over US pressure on the North.

North Korea not only threatened to cancel the unprecedented summit with Washington but also suspended a high-level meeting with Seoul after South Korea conducted joint military drills with the US on the Korean Peninsula.

The talks were supposed to discuss implementing a declaration issued at the end of an April 27 inter-Korea summit, which included interest in the “common goal” of denuclearization.

South Korea has vowed to mediate talks between the United States and North Korea.

Washington and Pyongyang have no diplomatic relations. The US has imposed many rounds of sanctions on North Korea, has substantial military presence near the country, and has numerously threatened to invade it over its weapons programs.

Trump has previously suggested the Demilitarized Zone separating North and South Korea would be the best place for the high-stakes summit, but American officials had asked him to hold the talks in a third country.

Singapore has diplomatic relations with both the United States and North Korea.

The Trump-Kim summit, if it takes place, would mark the first such meeting between a sitting US president and a North Korean leader in history.

Source: Presstv