Politics

A dormitory hosting some 85 Francophone students has been razed to the ground in Bamenda as arsonists retaliate massive arrests, torture and militarisation that has been going on in Bamenda since the early hours of today, Saturday 18th March 2017.Reports reaching Cameroon Concord say, security forces stormed homes in the meta quarters of Bamenda, arresting youths massively. Cellphones have been seized, and there is a heavy military presence in the area. 

A Southern Cameroonian youth told our Bamenda correspondent that  there is a house to house search in Metta Quarters this morning. It's serious, no body goes out of the quarter. Mixed police and gendarmes could be seen parading the streets.

We are closely monitoring the ongoing situation in Bamenda.Stay connected for more updates

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Rita Akana

18.Mar.2017

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U.S. Congress woman Walorski denounces wanton human rights abuses and the arrest of Dr Agbor Balla by the Camer regime ; calls for an immediate stop to the abuses against anglophones by the Yaounde junta.

U.S. Rep. Jackie Walorski (R-Ind.) today, in a show of solidarity with Indiana’s Cameroonian diaspora and the Notre Dame Law School community, released the following statement on recent reports of increasing intimidation by the Government of the Republic of Cameroon:

“I am alarmed by recent reports that indicate the government of Cameroon is engaging in various forms of intimidation against the country’s English-speaking citizens, including the arrest of Notre Dame Law School alumnus Felix Agbor Nkongho. I join the Cameroon American Council in calling for an end to these sorts of fear tactics, which have no place in modern society. 

“Respect for basic human rights is a key tenet of any democratic society and one which all countries must strive to achieve. It is critical that the government of Cameroon recognize and protect the rights of every citizen, regardless of background.

“I strongly urge the government to end violent attacks on protesters, ease media restrictions, eliminate judicial irregularities in the court system, and lift the internet blackout that has now been in place for 60 days in majority English-speaking regions.”

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Rita Akana

18.Mar.2017

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Yesterday, Congressman Carson released the following statement on the ongoing internet blackout and crackdown against Cameroon’s Anglophone population: "As the outgoing co-chair of the Congressional Cameroon Caucus, I have been deeply disturbed by the recent reports that protests over perceived marginalization of Cameroon’s Anglophone population have resulted in a harsh government crackdown. Reports indicate that numerous protestors have been detained and today marks the 60th day of an internet blackout that is causing a major setback for the social and economic future of a previously economically vibrant region. 
“This suppression is particularly concerning given our foreign aid for the people of Cameroon and our shared mission to encourage economic development, stability, and democracy in the region. Just this week, the Cameroonian military freed 5,000 prisoners held by Boko Haram, highlighting the government’s laudable commitment to counterterrorism. Yet, as with all of our friends, we have an obligation to hold the Cameroonian government accountable when their actions suppress free expression and fail to protect minority populations. I call on President Biya and the government of Cameroon to ease tensions before the situation degrades further.” 

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Rita Akana

18.Mar.2017

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Chief Justice Ayah Paul Abine, Advocate General at the Supreme Court and National President of People Action Party, PAP has told President at Mfoundi High Court that he was illegally arrested and detained in violation of the law of Cameroon.

He made the statements Thursday March 16, 2017 in Yaoundé in front of Joseph Marie Nkeh President at the Mfoundi High Court while in a closed door court session in what was his first appearance before a Judge since his arrest last January.

Ayah Paul Abine began with the first illegality by quoting Section 119 (4) of the Penal Code which forbids the arrest of persons on the weekend. AYAH, it should be noted, was bundled out of his Tam-Tam residence by heavily armed men on Saturday January 21, 2017.

Secondly, the Lord Justice cited Section 629 of the Criminal Procedure Code that clearly spells out the judicial procedures for a judge of his caliber to be arrested; prominent amongst which is the fact that three judges equal to or superior in rank to Justice AYAH were competent enough to form a panel to ONLY interrogate and not effect an arrest. 

More so, for such a panel to be constituted, the order had to come through the Head of his department, in this case, the Attorney General of the Supreme Court. All of these procedures were flouted.

The President of the PAP appeared in close session earlier at 11:00 AM before the Mfoundi High Court in the absence of the Commissioner who had to represent the state of Cameroon.

Regular Judicial proceedings warrant that AYAH’s lawyers should have been served with all documents pertaining to the case but that was not the case. It was at the court that the lawyers were told that Ayah Paul Abine was arrested and charged with terrorism, propagation of false information, rebellion to the embarrassment of his Lawyers who said they are only getting the charges at the moment.

Reports have it that Chief Justice AYAH’s judicial ‘homily’ got the President of the Mfoundi High Court nodding in the affirmative all through.

It is also alleged that Justice Ayah Paul used the occasion to tell those present that he had strong feelings that Laurent Esso (Minister of Justice), Rene Emmanuel SADI (Minister of Territorial Administration and Decentralization), Jacque Fame NDONGO (Minister of Higher Education), Issa TCHIROMA BAKARY (Minister of Communication) in complicity with top notch Anglophones were behind the embarrassment of the state and massive arrests ongoing in the English speaking regions of the country.

Barrister Ndong Christopher has hinted that an appeal against the charges will be dropped in the office of the President of Mfoundi High Court following the irregularities in his arrest, they want his freedom soonest.

However the case has been adjourned to to March 21, 2017.

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Rita Akana

17.Mar.2017

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When injustice becomes law, resistance becomes a duty in the words of Thomas Jefferson echoed at the la republic parliament by Hon. Joseph Wirba in the December 2016 session. Those of us who have been expecting that the people purportedly elected by us to represent our views before government and translate exactly how we feel at any given moment, may well be on course to talking for someone else, if we were to go by the opening addresses presented in both houses by the eldest Members who all happen to be nonagenarians from Southern Cameroons.

The two old folks contented themselves with speeches carefully prepared for them by the authoritarian government in Yaounde that is determined to threaten and blackmail everyone to submission. The address presented by Senator Nfon V. E Mukete stood in sham contrast to his previously held positions. In his capacity as President of the South West Chiefs' Conference, Nfon Mukete endorsed a strongly worded memorandum addressed to the Head of State by the five Bishops of the Bamenda Ecclesiastical Province, dissecting the Anglophone Problem, decrying our marginalization and proposing a two-state federal system of government as solution. Threats on the lives and businesses of his children and himself have, from all indications weighed down on his ability to reiterate what he stands for. Although MPs of the CPDM Party in the North West and South West regions did hold a meeting with representatives of Common Law Lawyers in Yaounde and came out with some strong resolutions, they soon appeared to regret holding that meeting, judging from their actions in the aftermath of the meeting.

Most of the MPs rather resorted to doing the contrary of their earlier spirit and began only speaking to back the government. Those of the opposition SDF have received a marked degree of praise for remaining steadfast by those involved in the struggle. They marched in the streets of Bamenda and Buea to show condemnation and solid., with the poor treatment of students of the University of Buea who were attacked on Campus and at their hostels, tortured, maimed, raped and detained in large numbers. At successive NEC meetings in Bamenda they also came out with strong resolutions berating the rampant kidnappings and extortions. These efforts not, withstanding, we are expecting them to all remake history like their peers in the late 1950s who left a truculent Nigerian Parliament at the time and moved en mass to Buea to exercise their rights of self determination.

The people you all claim to represent are watching you and taking down important notes that shall be written on the sands of time. The current threats on the life and freedom of SDF MP representing the Jakiri Special Constituency in the North West Region, Hon. Wirba Joseph just because he used the rostrum at the National Assembly last December 2016 to decry the dehumanizing treatment being meted out on Anglophones in Cameroon, forcing him to flee to safety is eloquent proof that no one, not even an elected official with immunity can expose the plight of the annexed people of Southern Cameroons and go free.

It is within that framework that the Consortium is calling on all It is within that framework that the consortium is calling on all the other 64 MPs/Senetors of Southern Cameroons extraction not to choose the wrong side of history by staying in Yaounde to do business as usual while their constituents are abducted, kidnapped, maimed and tortured by the day by forces of occupation, thrown in jail and heard summarily in Kangaroo courts on trumped up charges daily. It would be an aberration for these MPs/Senators to do business as usual while their territory is under military occupation with all what that entails, while their peoples are deprived of the internet for 57 days and counting, while their markets and other infrastructures are set ablaze daily by rogue regime with intention to force the already very improvised masses to submission.

If despite all these unacceptable and demeaning acts on their people, the MPs/Senators still go ahead to sit down in Yaounde and continue to share from the table of the oppressor, that should serve as undiluted evidence to national and international opinions that these so called legislators were never truly elected by their people, but hand-picked through a flawed electoral process to the regime’s dirty chores even against the interests of the same people they purport to speak for.We hold this view strongly because if the MPs/Senators believe thy owe their seats at the House of Assembly to the votes cast by their constituents, they would be the voices of these people and stand with them by refusing to take part in any deliberations until those captured and imprisoned in Yaounde are released, until the internet signals are returned to their regions and until the concerns being expressed by their people are addressed.

Bilingualism & Multiculturalism Commission

Yesterday, Wednesday the 15th of March, 2017 President Paul Biya appointed officials into his Bilingualism and Multiculturalism Commission by decree as usual. The Consortium had previously dismissed the creation of that Commission as cosmetic, and the naming of its officials has proven the point we made earlier. By designating former Premier, Peter Mafany Musonge, a well known xenophobe as Chairman, President Biya simply confirmed our position that the body was just another diversion from the burning issues of the day. Prior to the creation of this Commission, many have existed with the same status; the National Commission on Human Rights and Freedoms- NCHRF, the National Anti Corruption Commission- NACC, the National Communication Council- NCC, Elections Cameroon- ELECAM and many others with very mitigated results.

That is clear testimony to the effect that this so-called Commission on Bilingualism is a toothless bulldog only meant to divert attention from the real concerns of Southern Cameroonians/Ambzonians.We call on our people to totally disregard the putting in place of such a structure as a farce. We want to make it once-more abundantly clear that in no circumstance shall anyone hold any talks on behalf of Southern Cameroonian, Ambazonians in the absence of the leaders of the Consortium: both those incerated and the ones on the run, and in the presence of representatives of the United Nations, the United Kingdom and the African Union for the conclusions and resolutions to be mutually binding on all.

It is also of importance to mention here that the people of the Southern Cameroon/Ambazonia have triumphantly rejected the current political class winning and dinning with our oppressors in Yaounde, mainly because they have proven over the years that they represent nothing but their selfish interests. The Consortium seizes this opportunity to re-emphasize our option to pursue the total restoration of the statehood of Southern Carneroons/Ambazonia by all peaceful means possible.

We call on our people to remain steadfast and resist all forms of provocation from the forces of occupation parading our streets eager to spill blood. We once more remind them that we shall never relent in our efforts to secure their freedom and ensure a brighter future for our children.

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Rita Akana

17.Mar.2017

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Cameroon has assured the Secretary-General of the Common wealth that it is doing everything possible to address concerns about alleged human rights abuses against the country’s Anglophone community, which has sparked demonstrations.

Minister Delegate in the ministry of external relations in charge of Commonwealth Affairs, Chief Joseph Dion Ngute, said that his government remained in dialogue with the protestors to try to resolve their complaints.

At a meeting at the Commonwealth Secretariat in London, Chief Ngute told Secretary-General Patricia Scotland that his government fully supported peace building in the Commonwealth.

The minister extended a personal invitation to the Secretary-General from the Cameroon president to visit his country. Secretary-General Scotland said she would visit at the earliest opportunity.

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Rita Akana

16.Mar.2017

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