Friday 13 September 2019

Opinion : How President Biya's Dialogue May Fuel The Southern Cameroons Crisis

Since Cameroon's President made a declaration on the Southern Cameroons crisis on September 9 2019, there are strong indications that President Biya may have poured fuel to the crisis that he tries to address.

Reading  the entire speech and speaking to many Southern Cameroonians/Ambazonians, the feeling we get is that Mr Biya is yet to grasp the gravity of the situation by trying to make the war look as if it would take what he called 'national dialogue' to address it.

Besides, by asking who he was to dialogue with and at the same time calling for dialogue, appointing a powerless Prime Minister to handle the matter, there is serious contradiction.  A cross section of Southern Cameroonians do not trust the regime which is often seen violating its own laws or not implementing same. How did article 47 of the Federal constitution which said the form of the state would not be touched, was changed overnight remains a mystery.

Mr Biya : Smiling and Crying? 
Again how can Mr Biya call for dialogue without involving the diaspora whom he himself said were responsible and controlling the young boys and girls who have taken up arms against his rogue state and defending themselves?  Would it not have been wise to grant clemency and allow these people he calls terrorists to the dialogue table for trust to be built?  In addition how does he seek to end the crisis by asking governments around the world to arrest and deport the front line leaders to his dungeons?  Is he really honest to end the crisis with the threats he issued in his address?

Is the crisis going to just be ended by dialogue without any guarantees that resolutions would be implemented? Who builds the houses in the more than 200 villages burnt down? Why keep people who could help calm down the tension in jail and some in exile?

No one in his right senses, not even this reporter can condone violence or or killing of security and defense forces. But I think Mr Biya's call for dialogue is just cosmetic and adding fuel to the war he declared.  At some point it looks like he was addressing  the international community not the people who are in pain. In my view the conflict would not end easily if Mr Biya is not honest to address the root causes of the crisis once and for all and with some third party guarantees. on involvement. Trust between the Anglophones and the French Cameroun regime and leadership has been broken. It requires honesty to build it than just calling for dialogue after three years of killing innocent people who were only asking for their basic rights to freedom.

From a fair point of view it looks like the outcome of the dialogue is already known.

More analysis and more news would be up  in days ahead. Find Below Mr Biya's full speech.


Fellow Cameroonians,

My Dear Compatriots,

For close to three years now, the North-West and South-West Regions of our country have been going through a crisis that not only jeopardizes the safety and        well-being of the population living there, but also has far-reaching consequences for the national community as a whole.

It should be recalled that the crisis was triggered by corporate demands made by lawyers and teachers calling for the translation of the OHADA Uniform Acts into English and the preservation of the specificity of the Anglo-Saxon judicial and educational systems in the two regions.

From the outset, and true to an option that I hold dear, I instructed the holding of dialogue between the Government and trade unions to seek appropriate solutions to these demands. The measures taken by the Government at the end of these consultations went well beyond the initial demands and include:

Who pays for these abuses?
 - the translation into English of the OHADA instruments which are now available in the two official languages;

- the creation of a Common Law Section at the Supreme Court to handle appeals filed against the decisions of lower courts in Common Law matters;

- regarding the training of judicial and legal officers, the creation of a Common Law Section at the National  School of Administration and Magistracy. This measure was accompanied by a programme for the recruitment of English-speaking pupil judicial and legal officers and court registrars;

- the launching of the special recruitment of bilingual teachers in secondary schools;

- at the level of the judiciary, the stay of proceedings against some persons arrested in connection with the demands;

- the setting up of a national Commission for the Promotion of Bilingualism and  Multi-culturalism to, among other things, carry out an in-depth review of all the sources of frustration suffered by our compatriots in the North-West and        South-West Regions.

Decisions were taken subsequently to fast-track the decentralization process, with the creation of a new ministry devoted thereto. The upcoming regional elections will complete the process by enabling our compatriots nationwide to fully participate in the management of their local affairs.

My Dear Compatriots,

Despite the efforts made by the Government, radical movements, mainly inspired from abroad, have exploited and distorted the corporate demands. They have thus hatched a secessionist plan to partition our country. In this regard, they have formed and financed armed groups that have caused untold harm to the population of the North-West and South-West Regions.

The whole world has witnessed the atrocities committed by these armed groups: maiming, beheading, assassination of elements of the Defence and Security Forces, administrative authorities and defenceless civilians, destruction of public infrastructure and buildings, and burning of schools, hospitals, etc.

I would like to avail myself of this opportunity to once again extend my heartfelt condolences and those of the entire Nation to those who have lost loved ones in the crisis. I also wish to send a message of comfort to the wounded and all those affected in one way or the other. I want to assure them that they can count on the solidarity of the Government of the Republic and the Nation as a whole.

Women turned grave diggers
My Dear Compatriots   

The atrocities committed by armed groups have forced thousands of our compatriots to seek refuge in other regions of the country and, for some, in neighbouring countries where they have been reduced to living under precarious conditions.

In the face of these intolerable acts, the Defence and Security Forces have taken energetic measures, often at the risk of their lives, to perform their duty of protecting citizens and their property.

These measures are currently bearing fruits with the improvement of security and the progressive resumption of economic activities in the two regions.

My Dear Compatriots,

Since the outbreak of this crisis, I have spared no effort, with the help of Cameroonians of good will, in seeking ways and means for its peaceful resolution.

In a bid to calm the situation, I even ordered the discontinuance of judicial proceedings pending before military tribunals against 289 persons arrested for offences committed during this crisis.

In the same vein, I extended a hand of peace to members of armed groups by calling on them to lay down their arms and benefit from the process of reintegration into society. A National Disarmament, Demobilization and Reintegration Committee was thus set up. Regional Disarmament Centres are gradually receiving many ex-combatants who willingly accept to lay down their arms.  We will continue to make the necessary efforts to fully operationalize this process.

At the humanitarian level, I decided to launch a large-scale assistance plan for our affected compatriots of the North-West and South-West Regions. I also established a Centre for the Coordination of Humanitarian Action for its implementation. I wish to thank our international partners for supporting us in this initiative.

My Dear Compatriots,

The supposed feeling of marginalization by the people of the North-West and South-West Regions has often been advanced to justify this crisis. On this score, I wish to remind our compatriots in these regions, but also to those in the other eight regions of Cameroon, that marginalization, exclusion or stigmatization have never guided the work of the various governments I have formed since I became president of our country. Though no human endeavour is perfect and, in a developing country like ours with multiple challenges and limited resources, many needs are still to be met, in all the regions.

With the massive support you gave me during the last presidential election, I intend to work relentlessly, with all the sons and daughters of our country, towards meeting the challenges we are facing in order to improve the welfare of our population, especially in terms of infrastructure, water and electricity supply, healthcare delivery and youth employment.

My Dear Compatriots,

On 4 January this year, I made a vast government reshuffle, particularly with the appointment of a new Prime Minister, Head of Government. As usual, the choice of these officials was mainly guided by their human and professional qualities, their competence and experience. However, I would like to underscore that as faithful as I have always been to the regional balance policy, I chose a Prime Minister who hails from the       South-West Region. His predecessor who served in that key position for nearly ten years was from the North-West Region. In fact, since 9 April 1992, Prime Ministers, Heads of Government, have been appointed from among the people of those two regions.


Dreaded Cameroonian Soldiers

Despite all this, some people will continue to talk of marginalization of the people of these regions. It must be acknowledged that such is human nature and there will never be enough duty posts to satisfy all the regions, divisions, sub-divisions, towns, villages, families and citizens of our country. Any choice that is made will always cause joy whenever one is honoured, and disappointment when one is not.

It is, however, crucial for us to change our mentalities in this regard. Though it is necessary to consider regional balance in new countries with a diverse sociological composition like ours, it should be recalled that ministers and other officials are not appointed to serve only their regions, villages or families, but to serve the entire national community. They must serve the general interest and not specific interests.

That is why since I came to power, I have and will continue to wage a ruthless war against corruption and the embezzlement of public funds, and to promote good governance.

My Dear Compatriots,

Since the outbreak of the crisis in the North-West and South-West Regions, the term dialogue has never been so much talked about, used and even misused.

In and out of the country, people have made proposals and suggestions. Some are realistic while others are clearly less so. There has been a barrage of advice. Some smart, others based on interests. Some people dared to issue injunctions.

There have also been multiple and varied initiatives, most of them made by people of good faith, by countries or organizations that are truly concerned about the future of our country and the well-being of our people. I wish to thank them for their effort and token of friendship.

It is, however, worth noting that the proliferation of such initiatives was sometimes unfortunately based on simplistic and false ideas, born out of secessionist propaganda. Such is the case with the purported marginalization of Anglophones, persecution of the Anglophone minority by the Francophone majority, Government’s refusal to engage in dialogue preferring a military solution to the crisis or even ridiculous accusations of genocide.

Some Southern Cameroon leaders

 Talking about dialogue per se, the issue has always been, with whom?

New information and communication technologies, especially social media networks, have unfortunately facilitated the advent of self-proclaimed leaders, extremists of all shades trying to achieve recognition using insult, threat, hate speech, violence and murder.

However, in no country in the world, has the killing of gendarmes or civilians, kidnapping, mutilation, molestation, burning, destruction of public infrastructure, prevention of children from going to school or people from going about their activities in peace ever been a source of legitimacy to represent or speak on behalf of the people, the very victims of such atrocities.

In democracy, only elections confer such legitimacy.

My Dear Compatriots,

The many consultations I have continued to hold on this crisis have enabled me to size up the strong desire of the people of the North-West and South-West Regions to return to a normal life, to be able once again to safely carry out their economic and social activities, to witness the return of refugees and displaced persons, and to see their children return to school. The Prime Minister’s recent tour of the two regions has helped to confirm this feeling.

I therefore strongly believe that the time has come to rally all well-thinking and constructive forces in our country and in the diaspora to make this desire come true.

That is why I have decided to convene, from the end of this month, a major national dialogue that will, in line with our Constitution, enable us to seek ways and means of meeting the high aspirations of the people of the North-West and South-West Regions, but also of all the other components of our Nation.

The dialogue in question will mainly concern the situation in the North-West and South-West Regions. Since it will focus on issues of national interest such as national unity, national integration and living together, it is obvious that it will not concern only the population of these two regions.

The dialogue will therefore rally all the sons and daughters of our beloved and beautiful country, Cameroon, to reflect on values that are dear to us, namely: peace, security, national unity and progress.

It will also focus on issues that can address the concerns of the population of the North-West and South-West Regions, as well as those of the other regions of our country such as bilingualism, cultural diversity and social cohesion, the reconstruction and development of conflict-affected areas, the return of refugees and displaced persons, the education and judicial system, decentralization and local development, the demobilization and reintegration of ex-combatants, the role of the diaspora in the country’s development, etc.

The dialogue, which will be chaired by the Prime Minister, Head of Government, will bring together a wide range of personalities: parliamentarians, politicians, opinion leaders, intellectuals, economic operators, traditional authorities, religious authorities, members of the diaspora, etc. Representatives of the Defence and Security Forces, armed groups and victims will also be invited.

Obviously, it will not be possible for everybody to effectively participate in this dialogue, but each person will have the opportunity to make a contribution.

Prior to the effective holding of the dialogue, the Prime Minister, Head of Government, will carry out broad-based consultations to solicit a wide range of views that will serve as a source of inspiration for the conduct of deliberations. In the coming days, delegations will also be dispatched to meet the diaspora to enable them to make their contribution to discussions on the resolution of the crisis.

In this regard, I am appealing to the patriotism and sense of responsibility of all our compatriots in the country and in the diaspora so that everyone, wherever they are, should seize this historic opportunity to help to steer our country on the path of peace, harmony, security and progress.

My Dear Compatriots,

The propaganda of secessionists has tried to present the recent court decisions taken against a number of our compatriots in the context of this crisis as an obstacle to the dialogue envisaged.

That is not the case. I also wish to use this opportunity to stress that respect for the rule of law and the fight against impunity are pillars in the consolidation of a State ruled by law to which we all aspire. Violating the rule of law and granting impunity to some citizens is paving the way for anarchy.

It is therefore crucial, at this stage, to dispel rumours that one can quietly loot, rape, burn, kidnap, maim, murder, in the hope that a possible dialogue will erase all these crimes and provide impunity to their perpetrators.

As shown by the experience of many countries in the world, such way of thinking will only encourage the perpetuation of violence in the crisis regions and even encourage it in crisis-free regions.

Admittedly, however, in the context of a dialogue, a peace process or national reconciliation, the possibility of pardon may be considered, under certain conditions.

It is equally true that in accordance with our Constitution, the Head of State is empowered to exercise the right of pardon.

It was, moreover, on the strength of this authority that I made a peace offer to members of armed groups during my recent swearing-in ceremony.

I wish to solemnly reiterate this offer today.  Those who voluntarily lay down their arms and place themselves at the disposal of the Disarmament, Demobilization and Reintegration (DDR) Centres have nothing to fear. Their fellow armed group members who are already there can testify to this. Conversely, those who persist in committing criminal acts and violating the laws of the Republic will have to contend with our Defence and Security Forces and will face the full force of those same laws.

The same applies to promoters of hate and violence who, comfortably settled in foreign countries with impunity, continue to incite murder and destruction. Let them know that sooner or later they will have to face justice.

I am appealing to the countries sheltering these extremists to take action against these criminals if they really care about the situation of the people of the North-West and South-West Regions.

Most of them no longer have Cameroonian nationality, but they spend their time raising funds to carry out terrorist acts in Cameroon, masterminding acts of arson, kidnappings and murder, and issuing calls aimed at preventing children from attending school and fellow citizens from going about their business peacefully.

My Dear Compatriots,

The entire national community has high expectations for the dialogue I have just announced and hopes that this will be an opportunity for our brothers and sisters in the North-West and South-West to close this particularly painful chapter, to forget their suffering and to return to normal life. It also hopes that our country will continue resolutely on the path of progress, through fruitful discussions on ways and means of creating conditions conducive to the optimal exploitation of natural resources and our country's enormous human potential. Therefore, we should all work towards a successful dialogue.

My Dear Compatriots,

Over the years, we have used our linguistic and cultural diversity, the talent of our sons and daughters, and our commendable efforts and sacrifices to build a solid country and a strong Nation. Together we have met many challenges and won uncountable victories. We have proven that united there is no difficulty we cannot overcome and no obstacle we cannot cross. We proved it yesterday. We will prove it again today and tomorrow. The future of our compatriots in the North-West and South-West Regions lies within our Republic.

Cameroon will remain one and indivisible.

Long Live Cameroon!

Friday 29 March 2019

Human Rights Watch Suspected of Minimising Death Toll in Southern Cameroons War


There is heavy suspiscion that the International Organisation, Human Rights Watch is deliberately underreporting the death toll in the Southern Cameroons War.

Veteran Journalist and Pro-Independence Activist, Ntumfoyn Boh Herbert in an article published on March 28 2019, wonders aloud how the death toll could only be at 170 as reported by Human Rights Watch in its March 27 Report. HRW claims the 170 death is from October 2018.

Can HRW Be Considered Credible?
If we go by the Cameroon government figures of 84 soldiers killed as published in its ‘emergency humanitarian plan’ and the different massacres by Cameroon soldiers, in Pinyin, Buea and other areas it is impossible for only 170 people to have been killed. Majority are of course civilians.

Boh Herbert’s article has credence given that the Biya Regime is noted for bribery and corruption. They even hired fake Transparency International Elections Observers in 2018. 

In the wake of the conflict Yaounde has hired two US lobby firms which are there to defend their dented human rights image

Below is the full article.


Is Human Rights Watch on Biya’s Payroll?


By Ntumfoyn Boh Herbert (Yindo Toh)

Human Rights Watch (HRW) is back with more cover up on behalf of the Biya regime, if one judges from the underreporting of civilian fatalities in the latest media reporting citing HRW.

Let me say this again. The international community is working frantically, just as it did in 1959 and 1961, to deny the people of Ambazonia their right to independence. We have to organize better to prevent history from repeating itself.

Before going on to the falsifications outlined in the latest Human Rights Watch, let me remind you of the following facts that show where the world is struggling to go:

•        According to a report submitted to the Cameroonian dictator Paul Biya, the Secretary General of the United Nations committed to use – please, read abuse – his office to cover for the Biya regime. They have been doing a great job so far, including banning Matthew Lee of Inter City Press.
•        The United Nations Human Rights Council is also covering for the Biya regime by claiming, falsely, during the review of HR39 and, more recently, HR40 that the Biya regime had taken action to address rights violations when no action had been taken.
•        Despite the fact that 38 of the 47 countries seated in the United Nations Human Rights Council supported the motion brought before HR40 by 72 human rights organizations calling for the designation of a special rapporteur on human rights on the Cameroons, the UK took over and claimed to speak for these groups of countries by calling instead on Ambazonians to accepted mediated talks without preconditions. This is a position the United States Department of State is also selling.
•        US Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs traveled to Cameroon and did not even dare to mention the word “federalism”, electing instead to mention the need for the implementation of the 1996 so-called Constitution regarding decentralization.



Ntumfoyn Boh Herbert : Doubting HRW
•        The Security Council seized itself of the crisis in the Cameroons, thereby taking it away from the General Assembly where it could be determined without a veto to a platform within the UN where France can – all alone – prevent Ambazonia’s sovereignty from ever being cleared.
•        The State Department 2019 Human Rights Report on Cameroon underreported the rights violations of the Biya regime; failing to acknowledge that a war was going on; highlighting figures provided by the Biya regime and telling reporters that the US has been shocked by the pictures/videos they have been receiving from the Biya regime. nothing about the massacres in Ambazonia.

The latest example is not just under-reporting by Human Rights Watch. The New York-based organization is circulating outright falsification of facts about civilian fatalities. It is hard not to think or even conclude that Human Rights Watch is probably on mission on behalf of the Biya regime to bury the self-determination aspirations of Ambazonians.

Let me remind everyone that this is the same organization which last year provided its draft report on rights violations in the Cameroons for the Biya regime to read, in advance, and it would appear, clear before publication. This is the same organization which, in publishing its report, inserted a supplement from the Cameroon government denying accusations of rights violations contained in the same report. This is the same organization which once given a chance to launch their report at the United Nations head offices in New York last year, managed to invite the Biya regime to take the floor to defend itself against accusations of rights violations. 

In other words, Human Rights Watch is reporting rights violations that it is also allowing the Biya regime to debunk, with the blessing of Human Rights Watch. It is only thanks to the Association of United Nations Correspondents that Human Rights Watch was prevented from offering a platform at the UN head offices for the Biya dictatorship to rubbish any rights violations reported in the HRW report of last year. Let me not forget that this is the same organization which, for fear of publishing too bloody a report on the Cameroons last year, simply excluding it from its annual report.

In its most recent report, Human Rights Watch is now claiming that the number of civilians killed in Ambazonia is 170. One hundred and seventy civilian fatalities. No more!


Justice Needed
This is the kind of cover up that has me asking if Human Rights Watch is on the payroll of the Biya regime. Remember, that Human Rights Watch said last year that they did not include the Cameroons in their report because they lacked funding to cover the country. 

Might it be that the Biya regime is now footing their bills? The reporting by Human Rights Watch should cause every Ambazonian to worry and to call up the FBI to urge the Federal Bureau of Investigation to investigate possible collusion with the Biya regime.

Let me prove why the number of deaths reported by Human Rights Watch cannot be even remotely accurate. This is not about carelessness. This is not that Human Rights Watch missed the fatalities. It is that they are underreporting the fatalities.

Human Rights Watch knows, because they were part of the Congressional Hearing on Capitol Hill in the summer of last year that during the month of May 2018 alone, the number of civilians killed in Ambazonia was above 150. As a matter of fact, the closest analysis on the fatalities, provided by the Armed Conflict Location and Event Data (ACLED) Project database, put the fatalities in May 2018 at 151.


The ACLED pointed out that the fatalities for May 2018 were a threefold increase on April 2018. Meaning that no fewer than 50 were killed in April 2018. So, if Human Rights Watch bothered only to add up the fatalities for the months of April and May 2018, they would have been able to report over 200 deaths in only two months.

It is a shame that an organization like Human Rights Watch is victimizing human rights victims all over again by refusing even to acknowledge and report their executions by the regime with which this New York-based organization, it would seem, submits their reports for censorship and/or clearance prior to publication. Disgraceful!

Although ACLED does not capture all fatalities [see link] they have recorded over 800 fatalities. https://www.acleddata.com/tag/cameroon/

Ntumfoyn Boh Herbert (Yindo Toh)

Wednesday 20 March 2019

Using US Human Rights 2018 Report to Call Cameroon to Order !

That is what any keen observer of the evolution of the human rights situation in Cameroon would want to see done, as soon as possible, after going through the 45 page Human Rights 2018 Report.

Torture of an Ambazonia Suspect 
As a matter of fact, the report from the United States Department of State, Bureau for Democracy Human Rights and Labour paints a very sordid picture of happenings in Cameroon as a whole and most especially in Anglophone or the English Speaking Regions of a country once considered to be an island of peace. Many now prefer the name Ambazonia!

The report did not only pick holes with what it terms Cameroon’s strong presidency but also states that in practice the president retains the power to control legislation. There are several instances which indicate that the United States would want President Paul Biya, who has been in power since 1982 to quit. Different American diplomats have repeatedly asked the somewhat sit tight dictatorial President to think about his legacy!

Beyond reporting on Boko Haram which is a threat to the lake Chad Basin area, the US Department of State 2018 Country report took time to document in detail, rights violations ranging from the suppression LGBT rights to basic rights to freedom of speech and movement among others.

The report picked up the story of  Thomas Awah Junior, a journalist who  wrote for the monthly Aghem Messenger magazine. It said he arrested in Bamenda, and later sentenced to 11 years in prison on apparent trumped up charges of  hostility against the nation, secession, revolution, and propagation of disinformation through digital means. 

Concerns were also raised when the state department said it saw pictures of a severely emaciated Awah on social media who was transported to a hospital in Yaounde to be treated for tuberculosis and pneumonia. And despite his ailing condition, the Yaounde regime still keeps him in jail.

To any analyst, the report focuses more on the atrocious rights violations committed in the wake of the 2016 socio-political crisis in Southern Cameroons which muffed into an armed conflict between government forces and what the US termed, separatist groups.

While blaming both government troops and separatists for rights violations like the killing of soldiers, the bulk of the report puts the blame on the majority of the rights violations on the door steps of the Cameroon government. This is evident in the fact that the US suspended military assistance like training and financial aid to the Cameroon military worth billions.

There are incidences in the report to which the government of Cameroon would have to explain to the world why it had to carry out such apparent premeditated rights violations.The US government notes that security and military men did not only kill unarmed civilians but also killed at least seven persons who were mentally and physically challenged in the course of fighting purported separatists.

BIR Soldiers : Noted for Torture
The Cameroon government is seriously being faulted for using its Rapid Intervention Battalion, BIR, a force not within the purview or scope of conventional forces needed to solve the problem of political dissent. 

In other words, the Cameroon government had crossed its limits to use the BIR to massacre, kill, loot, burn down villages, causing hundreds of thousands to be displaced and also a refugee crisis.

In addition, the US does not find it funny that the Yaoundé regime crossed its boarders into Nigeria where it connived and arrested more than 47 refugees and asylum seekers, in flagrant violations of international laws on refoulement and brought them to Cameroon where they have been tortured and detained under life threatening conditions.  The report mentioned the names of the ‘Interim President’ of what it called the ‘so-called Federal Republic of Ambazonia’, Sisiku Julius AyukTabe and 47 others who were held incommunicado for several months. On this score the US gives the impression that they are monitoring the situation in Southern Cameroon very closely though there is more expectation for a robust intervention.

Another curiosity as reported by the Department of State  is that even officials of the moribund and powerless Cameroon National Commission for Human Rights and Freedoms does not have access to some of the 79 prisons that are reportedly operational throughout the country.  This is clear indication that the executive power is directly responsible for the actions undertaken by the judiciary.

As if describing a criminal rogue regime the report inter alia said “government security forces were widely believed to be responsible for disappearances of suspected Anglophone separatists, with reports of bodies dumped far from the site of killings to make identification difficult. 

The government did not readily account for some of the activists arrested in connection with the Anglophone crisis,” the report adds.  Even when the suspects were arrested the US government found the Cameroon government guilty of summary executions, citing the case of Samuel Chumba also known as Sam Soya, who was captured and later beheaded by the Cameroon military.

Although the Cameroon government had denied some of the human rights violations, the US Country Report on Human Rights Practices in 2018 identified elements of the Gendarmerie, the 51st Motorized Infantry Brigade, and the Special Operations Group, GSO of the National Police as being responsible for the repeated and multiple rights violations.

Why Action is Needed Now!

No matter how the Cameroon government tries to downplay the report, reading through the different violations - killings, disappearances, torture etc sends cold down the spines of anyone battling for the promotion of democracy, for the respect of the dignity of everyone and for decent lives for people all over the world.

UN Security Council
The State Department Country Report on Human Rights Practices is expected to trigger world action against Cameroon, and at best for the war declared on Southern Cameroons to be brought to an end by every means. 

The matter should under normal circumstances be taken to the United Nations Security Council and its General Assembly and if possible for a cease fire to be imposed given the savagery that Yaounde has displayed on Southern Cameroonians since 2016.  

Such a report is expected to call world attention, to question the Cameroon government to explain to the world how a peace loving  people they have been living with, suddenly decided to take up arms to fight for their inalienable right to self-determination through all legal means. The expectation from such a report is that US Undersecretary for African Affairs, Tibor Nagy's suggestion that the  Southern Cameroons case be brought before a world forum, should not just be mere rhetoric. 

Although the US State Department did not make any recommendations as expected, the magnitude of the human rights violations  committed by  French Cameroon security and defense forces, especially on Southern Cameroons, suffices for serious governments the world over to call Yaounde to order. 

Please follow the link below for the detail report https://www.state.gov/documents/organization/289187.pdf

Tuesday 19 March 2019

Stories told and untold: Anglophone Cameroonians at flight in Nigeria

While most have heard about Nigerians fleeing Boko Haram, to Cameroon among other places, fewer know that refugees also cross the border in the opposite direction. 
Refugees in Amana, Cross Rivers State
In October 2017, an English-speaking minority in Cameroon declared the independent state of Ambazonia, resulting in the expulsion of many. 

These events have largely been ignored by the world press – but journalist Solomon Amabo tells some of the neglected stories with his photos.
Read details of this story by following the link below on VisaVis magazine website

Friday 22 December 2017

Southern Cameroonians in Belgium and the Akosons Put Smile on Faces of Refugees in Nigeria

Southern Cameroonians in Gent, Belgium have put a huge smile on the faces of Southern Cameroonian Refugees in Nigeria.  Through a donation, pregnant women and hundreds of the refugees were  provided with food and medication.

Some Pregnant women Display delivery kits
Some pregnant women who are on the verge of delivery were provided with delivery kits containing feeding bottles, bathing buckets, sanitary pads, powder, Vaseline and other items to prepare them for the maternity.  The grant was able to pay for all the drugs of up to 122 patients. 

Food items ranging from rice, beans, garri , Indomie were also distributed to some more than 300 Southern Cameroonians who could not benefit from relief supplies from the UNHCR because they had not registered and just arrived Nigeria.

Sir Ekili hands over delivery kits
At the distribution ceremony in Ikom LGA council premises on December 19 2017, one of the pregnant woman who is to give birth this month of December expressed relief. 

“I never knew what I was going to do because I had not bought a single item. I really appreciate our brothers and sisters in Gent, Belgium for thinking about us,” Yvette N. said.

Clothing from the Akosons
A huge box of clothing of all types and shoes that was donated by the Mr and Mrs Akoson were also distributed to many who ran away from different villages in Manyu County with just a single dress.

The different speakers at the distribution ceremony heaped praises on Southern Cameroonians in Belgium for marching words with action.

Add caption
The relief material from Gent came after that from the Nigerian Government, the UNHCR, Southern Cameroonians in Canada, SCAC, 

The Takumbeng Relief, The Ambazonia Interim Government, the AGC of Dr Cho Ayaba and the United Support for Peace, NGO among others

Officials from humanitarian organisations such as Rhema Care, the Health and Social Service, HSS of the Interim Government and the Southern Cameroons Civil Defense Cabinet, CDC, were on ground to distribute the relief material from Belgium.

Let the goods reach the refugees- Anderson Eyong
According to Sir Ekili Clarence of the CDC, the major challenge remains the provision of drugs to hundreds of patients food and accommodation hundreds.

The Chairman of Southern Cameroonians in Gent, Belgium, Anderson Eyong said more will be done for the refugees in Nigeria so long as it used for the purpose for which it was sent.