Politics

Itwebafrica reports that allegations of a continued assault on the internet by the government of Cameroon in the Northwest and Southwest regions of the country has now been corroborated by content delivery network and cloud services provider Akamai.

The US-based company says it noted Internet disruption in Cameroon last week following alleged blackouts directed by the government.

Akamai has shared illustrations on social media showing that traffic to the country first dropped sharply at around 20:45 UTC on 17 January 2017.

"Tuesday's Internet disruption in Cameroon lasted just over an hour - ~21:45-23:00 UTC, with @Akamai traffic levels returning to normal." which monitors Internet data and issues quarterly global trend reports on connection speeds, broadband adoption, mobile usage, and attack traffic.

Confirmation of the internet shutdown comes after the government of Cameroon sent warnings about the possibility jail time and fines to citizens for information that they post on social media.

The country's mobile network operators - MTN Cameroon, Orange Cameroun and Nexttel - sent messages on behalf of Cameroon's Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications (MINPOSTEL) to subscribers warning that they would "incur 6 months to two years imprisonment, and 5 to 10 million fine if you publish or spread on the social media, information that you can't prove..."

Philisiwe Sibiya, CEO of MTN Cameroon, has since denied allegations by subscribers that the messages are a sign that operators are cowering to the government and compromising the privacy of their subscribers.

"As our principal Regulator, the Minister of Post & Telecommunications (MINPOSTEL) may from time to time request telecom operators to carry messages on their networks intended for the general public. This was the case recently when MTN Cameroon, along with other operators, broadcast a message from MINSPOTEL regarding the use of the internet." 

Cameroon's optic fibre, which the three operators rely on to provide services to subscribers in the country is managed government owned Cameroon Telecommunications (CAMTEL).

Violation of a 'basic human right'

An online petition addressed to Cameroon's Minister of Post and Telecommunications Cameroon, Li Likeng Minette Libom and the United Nations Security Council has been launched in the last twenty four hours through Avaaz Community Petitions.

The petition has been signed more than 700 times. Its creator 'Emmanuel A.' writes that the internet is a basic human right which all governments need to respect.

"We hope the Cameroon government can bring back the internet to the people. The citizens of North West and South West Region of Cameroon for the past 3 months have been protesting against marginalisation. The internet and Facebook have been one of the successful ways to protest against the government and for citizens to express their grievances. On the 18th of January the government disrupted the internet access in these regions."

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Rita Akana

25.Jan.2017

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Ever since Government banned the Anglophone Civil Society Consortium and the Southern Cameroons National conference, SCNC on Tuesday, January 17  2017, the forces of law and order have been combing every nook and cranny of the Northwest and Southwest Regions in search of “trouble makers”.

The heavy deployment of troops that evokes terror and the fear of the bullet on citizens, lays credence to observers’ claims that the Government has tacitly declared a State of emergency in the two Regions.

In the banning order, the Minister of Territorial Administration and Decentralisation, Rene Emmanuel Sadi, empowers administrative officials with excessive powers to order for the arrest and detention of anybody who sympathises with the two “illegal” groups.

To the Minister, the SCNC and the CACSC activities are not only contrary to the Constitution, but also liable to jeopardise the security of the State.

He said such activities are an affront to the territorial integrity, national unity and national integration.

“All activities, meetings and demonstrations initiated or promoted by the Southern Cameroon National Council, SCNC, the Cameroon Anglophone Civil Society Consortium, CACSC, any other related groups with similar objectives or by any partisan to these groups, are hereby prohibited all over the national territory”, partly reads the banning order.

The order further warns that defaulters shall be liable to legal proceedings in conformity with the law and regulation in force.

By virtue of that same order, Regional Governors, Senior Divisional Officers and Divisional Officers have been empowered to execute the decision.

It has given full powers to the administrators, some critics hold, to institute a reign of terror by arbitrarily arresting and detaining citizens.

This means that anybody who sympathises with the marginalisation of Anglophones is in danger.

Thus, advocates for a return to a Federal System of Government must hide in the woods to be able to express their opinions because they are now at the mercy of the police and gendarmerie elements.

Talks between the Anglophone Teachers’ Trade Unions and the Government collapsed last week when the former insisted that the latter should make a concrete statement on the possibility of a return to a Federal System of Government.

The consortium also insisted that they could only call off the strike if the detainees who were arrested in the Northwest and Southwest Regions were released.

The teachers further argued that only a Federal system can guarantee the protection and preservation of the Anglo-Saxon legal and educational system.

Government refused to entertain any talks on the last two points.

The Chair of the Inter-ministerial Adhoc Committee, Prof. Paul Ghogomu Mingo, said the Consortium had a hidden agenda because Federation and the release of the detainees have nothing to do with education.

Both parties, The Post learnt, agreed to continue talks on Wednesday, January 18. But before that day, the Chair of the Committee announced that the talks had ended.

The acerbic tone of Prof. Ghogomu’s communiqué on January 16 was the harbinger of the ban that Government slammed on the Consortium and the SCNC the next day.

“The State will effectively ensure the security of all young school-goers and university students in Cameroon, as it does to all Cameroonians and foreigners living in the country,” partly reads the press release.

This statement was the herald of the ministerial banning order and the consequent arrest of the President and Secretary General of the Anglophone Consortium, Barrister Nkongho Felix Agbor-Balla and Dr. Fontem Neba on Tuesday evening.

The very people that Government was negotiating with to end the ongoing teachers and lawyers’ strike that started in November last year, are now being treated as “terrorists”.

Their main crime is that they presented the release of detainees and Federation as the last conditions for lifting the strike.

In a press conference in Yaounde, shortly before the banning order was announced, the Minister of Communication, Issa Tchiroma Bakary, said Government will never accept a return to the Federal System.

Hear him: “the Head of State has affirmed without any ambiguity that the Unitary form of the State is intangible and Cameroon is one and indivisible and shall so remain.

There will therefore be neither Federalism nor secession”.

Tchiroma said: “These protesters are now revealing their hidden agenda, which consists of nothing else but questioning the institutions, destroying the bedrock of the nation, its unity, its solidarity and its territorial integrity.

Such people, who are at odds with the values of the nation leave those with whom the people have conferred the legitimacy of the exercise of their sovereignty, with no other choice than restore republican order”.

The Minister claimed that by rejecting calls for a return to Federation, Government was maintaining the path of the founding fathers of reunification who bequeathed a united nation to them.

He said the President of the Republic will not heed any proposal that has to do with changing the form of the State.

To him, President Biya is the guarantor of the aspirations of the Cameroonian people as enshrined in the Constitution.

Before slamming the ban on the Anglophone Consortium and the SCNC, Government had earlier briefed diplomats in Yaounde on the decision.

It was the substance of a meeting the Minister of External Relations, Lejeune Mbella Mbella had with members of the diplomatic community in Yaounde.

During the meeting, the Regional Representative of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation, UNESCO, said the right to strike should not impede the right to attend school.

Contrary to earlier claims, Felix Loiteohin Ye said it is only the Government of a country that can declare a blank year and not UNESCO. Government used the occasion to attract the sympathy of the diplomats through a video projection that showed the magnitude of the violence in the Northwest and Southwest Regions. 

In its advocacy campaign for banning SCNC and the Consortium, the Government selected video projectors that showed them how angry youths were chasing away students in the Francophone school in Limbe.

Besides banning the two outfits, the Government also cut internet lines in the Northwest and Southwest to stop youths from interpersonal communication and information sharing on social media.

Thus, these two Regions are cut off from the rest of the country internet-wise. From the look of things, Government is now on the war path. The economic impact of the repressive act is enormous.

Banks and other business enterprises that use the internet to operate are all grounded as they are unable to serve their customers.

Some mobile telephone companies sent messages to their customers saying they are unable to provide internet services due to reasons beyond their control.

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Rita Akana

25.Jan.2017

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Anglophone consortium warns that every West Cameroonian who joins this dubious MTN Whatsapp group is doing so at his or her own maximum security risk. It is allegedly a ploy by the gangster regime to further spy on English-speaking citizens, hack into their phones, and tap their calls.

There is a message going round from MTN asking their clients to add them on whatsapp. At this stage we can't trust MTN or any other mobile operators. These are ways to spy on you. We can't just trust them. Please don't add and stay clear.

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Rita Akana

24.Jan.2017

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Barely 24 hours after Southern Cameroonians in Germany officially confirmed their demonstration slated for this Friday, 27.01.2017, Cameroon Concord is just getting confirmation reports from Cameroonians based in the Netherlands that their application for demonstration has been granted by the Dutch authorities.Below is a detail protest plan;

Southern Cameroonians in the Netherlands will protest this coming Friday 27/01/2017. Here is there program
Program:
12:00-12:30: Assemble at Kneuterdijk 20, Den Haag
12:30-13:30: Manifestation towards UK Embassy
13:30-15:00: Demonstration at UK Embassy
15:00-15:30: Manifestation towards US Embassy
15:30-17:00: Demonstration at US Embassy
17:00-18:00: Light refreshment
Public transport info:
1. From den Haag Holland Spoor: Tram 1(direction Scheveningen Noorderstrand). Stop at Kneuterdijk tram stop.
2. From den Haag Central: Bus 22 (Direction Duindorp) or Bus 24 (Direction Kijkduin), stop at bus stop Kneuterdijk.
As for car transportation:
Are there any volunteers who'd like to share their ride from Amsterdam or Rotterdam or any other parts of the NL to the manifestation coming Friday 27? Please indicate.
"When injustice becomes law, resistance becomes a duty"

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Rita Akana

24.Jan.2017

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BaretaNews is getting a very disturbing report. The Colonial Divisional Officer of Nkambe Central Abba Abdouraman has threatened Fr Andrew Kushu Solii Ngah, Parish priest of Christ the King Parish, Nkambe Town. The Catholic Priest had gathered with his Christians to pray at a site for the current crisis.The DO confronted the Priest and said he must take permission from his office before gathering to pray. He went further to say the priest will be abducted. We are sending this information to all Catholic Christians in West Cameroon to be aware. Father Andrew Ngah has already been tagged and many more Priests are being tagged. When has praying openly requested that permission must be sought from the authorities? We denounce this strongly and call on all Christians to be vigilant.

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Rita Akana

24.Jan.2017

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While millions of their people live in poverty, these African leaders are heavily loaded in terms of treasures. He is the president of Cameroon and 83 years old. The statesman has an estimated fortune of $ 200 million.

With his wealth mostly based in Europe, he owns several mansions there as reported. He is currently the longest ruling Non-Royal head of state in the world. He has rigged the term limit laws twice to make sure he stays in power.

The Cameroonian president is said to be the richest man in Cameroon. In a 2009 , the Catholic Committee against Hunger and for Development (CCFD) denounced Paul Biya as being among a list of leaders with ill-gotten wealth.

According to a French online newspaper, Rue 89, Paul Biya’s vacation was over the top more expensive than that of the American President. He was widely criticized for having rented a villa for 30,000 euros per day in August 2009. Cameroon is one of the poorest countries in the world (with $2,257 GDP per capita as of 2011) with 48% of its population living below the poverty line.

The U.S. imported $544 million worth of crude and fuel oil from Cameroon in 2008 and exported $59 million worth of drilling and oilfield equipment but still the citizens don’t see all this profit. Because of its modest oil resources and favorable agricultural conditions, Cameroon has one of the best-endowed primary commodity economies in sub-Saharan Africa. Still, it faces many of the serious problems confronting other underdeveloped countries, such as stagnant per capita income, a relatively inequitable distribution of income, a top-heavy civil service, endemic corruption, and a generally unfavorable climate for business enterprise.

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Rita Akana

24.Jan.2017

Hits: 6792