Politics

Official reports say two gendarme officers were murdered on Thursday in  Bui division of the North West region.

Social media reports even added that a police officer was brought down later in the day in Bamenda.

One of the gendarme officers is said to be a pregnant woman.

Clashes between government forces and pro-separatists have intensified in recent months. This follows the arrest and detention of some separatist leaders including the 'president of the interim government of Ambazonia'

The government of Cameroon has refused to hold talks with those they term terrorists.

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02.Feb.2018

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The ban on the sale of weapons as well as the manufacturing of weapons across the North West Region is a so primitive and isn't going to preempt any further attacks on the Security agents of LA Republique Du Cameroun.

The failure by the state To condemn the ferocious and barbaric Attacks that have Ruined homes and Families keep fueling The animosity, Vendetta on the part of The abandoned as well As dejected and frustrated civilians Who now see every State security agent as A common enemy that Must be discarded From the surface of The earth as fast as They can because the Military has proven its Incompetence in Holding the state officials accountable To the electorate by Providing to them Security and insurability from Wolves of the state .

The killing of the two Gendarmes in Mbingo Is a clear sign that Things have escalated Beyond control and the haughty state of LA Republique Du Cameroun must come Down from its vane Height of pride and Arrogance and face Reality that it isn't any Longer a domestic Affair as it began yesterday. Failing to acknowledge the existence of two separate nations living side by side is like not admitting guilt even when its evident.

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Rita Akana

02.Feb.2018

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Statement from the family of Sisiku Julius Ayuk Tabe

The wife of H.E Sissiku Ayuk Tabe who is the leader of the Interim Government of Ambazonia has just issued a press release to the circumstances leading to the abduction of her husband.She expresses her frustrations at both the Nigerian Government and Cameroun, will demanding the unconditional release of her husband and many others held in illegal detention by Mr Biya.

Below is the full press release:

I need to start by thanking God for all good things come from Him, even difficult moments too.

With every passing day we are becoming more and more worried about the whereabouts of Sisiku Julius Ayuk Tabe. The last three weeks have been a nightmare, for all his family and friends and the people of former British territory Southern Cameroons (hereafter referred to Federal Republic of Ambazonia), not knowing where he is.

I issue this statement because we have reason to be worried for my husband’s life and safety and we know that the media, public, governments and organizations will pay attention.
Sisiku Julius Ayuk Tabe is a loving, caring, humble, and honest husband and father of my children. A trained and experienced computer engineer, he is calm and always desire to serve others and seek solutions toward improving human prosperity. These are the qualities that earned the confidence of Ambazonians who trusted him to lead legal and diplomatic efforts toward the independence restoration and international recognition of the Federal Republic of Ambazonia as a democratic and sovereign state.

My husband Julius is not a terrorist. He is not a criminal. Julius is an activist fighting for freedom, equality and justice in the land of our birth Ambazonia.

Julius and I last discussed on 5th January 2018, when he flew to Abuja ahead of a scheduled meeting with close members of the Interim Government of the Federal Republic of Ambazonia. The meeting, he told me, was to focus on the rising humanitarian need of Ambazonia refugees in Nigeria and indiscriminate killing, arrest, and destruction of property and businesses of unarmed citizens in our homeland by armed soldiers and paramilitary forces of La Republique du Cameroun and appointed government officials of President Paul Biya regime in Yaounde.

In the evening of 5th January 2018, Julius had not returned home and was unreachable via phone. On the of 6th January 2018, after several inquiries and consultations, we received information that my husband Julius and eleven other leadership members of Ambazonia Interim Government were abducted by Nigerian Security Service during their meeting at Nera Hotel in Abuja. For three weeks, no single person, including Nigerian human rights lawyers Femi Falana and Abdul Oroh and family members of the abducted leaders including myself have neither seen nor heard from one of the abductees.

On 28th January 2018, the two lawyers defending my husband and 11 others issued a statement indicating that the Government of Nigeria extradited the 12 leaders to Cameroon. On 29 January 2018, Cameroon government spokesperson Issa Tchiroma Bakary announced to Cameroun’s public and international community that 47 abductees in Nigeria including my husband Sisiku Julius Ayuk Tabe are in Cameroun’s territory and under custody. Until the announcement, my children and I still had no information of Julius’ whereabouts. Today is 31 January 2018, we have no proof that Julius and the 11 others are alive. And if they are alive, what are the charges against them and why have they not been allowed to talk to their families and to access legal due process under international law?

I did not choose to be born in Southern Cameroons. Sisiku Julius Ayuk Tabe and other 11 leaders did not choose to be born in Southern Cameroons either. Our children and grandchildren did not choose to be descendants of Southern Cameroons. More than 8 million of us within Ambazonia territory and worldwide did not choose to originate from Southern Cameroons. It is our land of birth and our ways of life are shaped by our common culture and values. We will all die Southern Cameroonians.

Hear my cry and that of my children. Hear the cry of thousands of spouses, children and family members of those who have been killed, injured, kidnapped, detained and are missing. We appeal to the international community and governments to urge Mr. Paul Biya to produce video footages of Julius Ayuk Tabe and 11 others, grant access to lawyers and family members to meet them, and free them because they are not criminals. Our appeal equally applies to all other activists illegally detained in prisons and unknown locations across Cameroun territory.

I call on fellow women, Amnesty International, the United Nations, Commonwealth, and African Union to act swiftly and decisively by offering to mediate on finding a political solution to the independence restoration struggle of Southern Cameroons.

Hear our voices. We are not terrorists. We are Ambazonians. We are fighting for freedom, sovereignty, and human dignity for millions of Southern Cameroonians. Our birth rights have been suppressed, our liberties erased, our political, cultural and economic freedoms denied for more than half a century by the Governments of La Republique du Cameroun.

By Mrs Lilian Ayuk Tabe

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Rita Akana

02.Feb.2018

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Already candidates have begun dropping their candidature for the elective positions and most especially for the Presidential hopeful. The following militants have indicated their willingness to become the party's new chieftain replacing Fru Ndi. These people are Joshua Osih, Barrister Mbah Ndam Joseph and Tchinda Simon.  

The founding Chairman hasn't made any intention to run for the post of Party Chairman as of now. John Fru Ndi has piloted the affairs of the Social Democratic Front for the past twenty eight years. Indicating the readiness of the Social Democratic Front to participate in the forth coming elections isn't any good omen for the party, whose launching was heralded as the jewel of change.

This euphoria has faded out over the years and it has become as dirty as the pot " CPDM" that the "kettle"SDF had condemned over the ages. The elections that have been announced to hold this year 2018, seemingly is threatened by a lot of uncertainty.

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Rita Akana

01.Feb.2018

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After arrest of Ambazonia Leaders, US Congress passes House Res 718 condemning the Biya regime for gross human rights violations. The Resolution that was introduced today, Tuesday Jan 30, 2018, by Lee M. Zeldin; a Republican Congressman from New York (pictured) passed overwhelmingly and was referred to the House Committee on Foreign Affairs, to recommend sanctions and then notify the State Department. If the Biya regime thought arresting Ambazonia leaders will kill the Anglophone struggle, they were obviously mistaken because Cameroon is now on the international spotlight and the struggle just began....

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
115th CONGRESS
2d Session
H. RES. 718
January 29, 2018

Mr. Zeldin submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs
________________________________________________ 

RESOLUTION
Condemning the actions taken by the Government of the Republic of Cameroon against Patrice Nganang and others, and for other purposes.

Whereas, on January 17, 2017, the Government of the Republic of Cameroon shut down mobile internet access to English-speaking regions of Cameroon after clashes involving separatists;
Whereas, on October 1, 2017, the Department of State expressed serious concern over the Government of Cameroon's use of force to restrict free expression and violence against protestors in the country's English-speaking regions;
Whereas the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) publicly urged the Government of Cameroon to halt violence after 17 people had reportedly been killed and dozens wounded and arrested in demonstrations in the country's English-speaking regions since October 1, 2017;
Whereas the Government of Cameroon has retained control of electronic media by refusing to grant licenses to private radio and television stations and has intensified political attacks against the independent press;
Whereas commenting unfavorably on political or human rights issues frequently results in official repercussions for writers and journalists in Cameroon;
Whereas publishing material critical of the Government of Cameroon on political or human rights issues frequently results in official repercussions for writers and journalists;
Whereas Patrice Nganang criticized the Government of Cameroon for its marginalization of English-speaking persons and publicly criticized President Biya on online media outlets;
Whereas Patrice Nganang is highly educated, with a Ph.D. in comparative literature and is currently a professor of cultural studies and comparative literature at the State University of New York at Stony Brook;
Whereas, on December 6, 2017, Patrice Nganang was arrested at Douala International Airport and charged with violating the antiterror law for insulting President Biya;
Whereas Patrice Nganang was taken into custody and detained in the Kondengui Central Prison in Yaounde, Cameroon, for approximately 20 days;
Whereas the Government of Cameroon delayed a public hearing for Patrice Nganang and neglected to issue a warrant of criminal charges;
Whereas hundreds of English-speaking detainees have been beaten or mistreated in custody;
Whereas these actions of the Government of Cameroon constitute gross and reprehensible violations of international law and basic human rights;
Whereas the police, gendarmerie, and Government authorities reportedly continued to arrest and detain persons arbitrarily, often holding them for prolonged periods without charge or trial and at times incommunicado; and
Whereas there are numerous documented accounts of citizens of Cameroon being imprisoned and beaten for publicly reporting on unrest in Cameroon's English-speaking regions or criticizing President Biya:
Now, therefore, be it Resolved, That the House of Representatives--
(1) strongly condemns the actions taken by the Government of the Republic of Cameroon against Patrice Nganang and the English-speaking minority of Cameroon;
(2) affirms that the United States continues to hold the
Government of Cameroon responsible for upholding all the rights of its citizens, regardless of political views or beliefs; and (3) urges the Government of Cameroon to extend to all of Cameroon's citizens, including political dissidents, the rights guaranteed by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights of the United Nations and other international covenants on human rights, including the freedoms of expression with equal protection under law.

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Ekinneh Agbaw-Ebai

01.Feb.2018

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According to concealed documents in the Élysée and Unity Palaces, the independence day of Southern Cameroons is Friday 1st January 1960 and not 1st October 1961 as Southern Cameroonians know.

Although the ephemeral German Kamerun had been nothing but an illusion according to the League of Nations, French President General Charles De Gaulle felt that a sentimental return to the pre-war boundaries of the divided Kamerun would be a unique opportunity to add British Cameroons’ territory to French Cameroun which was already within the French sphere of influence. So the General conceived a disguised concept of Union des Populations du Cameroun’s Kamerun Idea and imposed on British Cameroons (Northern Cameroons and Southern Cameroons).

In recognition of the fact that Southern Cameroons was already a distinct territory within the international system - being prepared for self-determination as per Article 76(b) of the UN Charter, UPC initiated the Kamerun Idea, which advocated for the reunification of French Cameroun and British Cameroons – under the condition that both UN Trust Territories would preserve their newly inherited traditions, cultures and identities in a federation of two states equal in status.

According to the General’s disguised concept, French Cameroun because of it seize compared to British Cameroons considered itself the substitute for Kamerun, from which the British Cameroons had been torn by an accident of history.

Reunification was perceived in Paris and Yaoundé as a return to Cameroun part of what had been taken away from it. In that sense, reunification was only a one-way movement from the British Cameroons to the Republic of Cameroun, a sort of return from the Diaspora to the “fatherland.”

General De Gaulle and Ahidjo had to kill the entire UPC leadership to ensure that reunification does not become a union between two sovereign states as envisaged by the UPC, but rather, the attachment of a still dependent Southern Cameroons to an already independent Cameroun - that attachment being construed to signify independence for the former.

With the backing of France within the UN Trusteeship Council, Ahidjo meticulously centred French Cameroun independence celebration on 1, January 1960, as the legitimate independence of the replaced Kamerun. 

At the grandstand in Yaoundé, Ahidjo was surrounded by members of his government, and on his right hand was John Ngu Foncha and a delegation representing Southern Cameroons. The two leaders witnessed one hundred and one gun shots, which marked the end of the French Trusteeship. At the end of his long speech, Secretary General Dag Hammarskjold said “on behalf of the United nations, I welcome the new Independent State of Cameroun.”On that day, French Cameroun was named Republic of Cameroun.

As envisaged by Paris, the thoroughly choreographed active symbolic participation of a strong Southern Cameroons delegation in Yaoundé on 1, January 1960 in the presence of high level international personalities from more than fifty countries, including the Secretary General of the United Nations, H.E Dag Hammarskjold, Messrs Jacquinot, personal Representative of General de Gaulle, Henry Gabot-Ledgo, U.S. Permanent Representative to the United Nations and personal Representative of President Eisenhower (not exclusively), was intended to convince the international community that French Cameroun independence also meant British Southern Cameroons independence, in other words the legitimate reunion of brothers and sisters that history had separated.

After dubiously ensnaring Foncha and the entire Southern Cameroons, Ahidjo moralized on the prodigious virtues of renewed brotherhood. Knowing well that Southern Cameroonians were bound by the Plebiscite of 11, February 1961 and limited in their competence to reverse that decision, Ahidjo engaged in a campaign of deceit, making solemn public assurances that reunification will be a mutual movement of the Republic of Cameroun and Southern Cameroons coming together from both sides, on an equal footing.

It was only natural therefore that the people of Southern Cameroons voted overwhelmingly for reunification based on Ahidjo’s lies and false hope. This explains why in Foumban Ahidjo never saw the need for a new constitution, but rather the constitution of French Cameroun was amended to accommodate Southern Cameroons. Furthermore, after reunification, Southern Cameroons had to use Cameroun’s flag, national anthem and currency.

It was in line with De Gaulle’s concealed master plan that 1, October 1961 was not Southern Cameroons independence day, but rather the Republic of Cameroun’s reunification day with Southern Cameroons. There were no international representatives from different countries as expected during independence celebrations, not even the UN was present in Buea. In fact the ceremony which took place in the middle of the night was the illegal transfer of the sovereignty of Southern Cameroons from Britain to the Republic of Cameroun, the replacement of one colonial master by another being construed to signify independence

It is worth mentioning that what De Gaulle and Ahidjo did was completely against the UN Charter. That is why when Northern Cameroons voted in the Plebiscite of 11 February 1961 not to join the Republic of Cameroun, but to continue with Nigeria Ahidjo challenged that decision at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) – claiming Northern Cameroons was an indivisible part of his territory. ICJ ruled in 1963 that Northern Cameroons (the Northern half of Southern Cameroons) was not and had never been part of the Republic of Cameroun.

Get full details in “The Unrefined History of Southern Cameroons”

Emmanuel Nebafuh
North West Fons Ambassador for Peace
Universal Peace Federation (UPF) - Peace Ambassador
African Parliamentary Alliance for UN Reforms - Permanent Representative, Geneva Switzerland

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Emmanuel Nebafuh

01.Feb.2018

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