Politics

The giant projects previewed for 2020 are geared towards fast tracking development and realizing the 2035 emergence dream. This declaration was done by the Minister of Planning and Regional Development, Mr. Paul Motaze.

It was during an outing aimed improving good governance and transparency, aimed at improving government way of doing business. Most of the giant projects which stand as the pivot for the economic transformation agenda are to be piloted by the 2018 Financial Budget .

He therefore called on economic operators to take responsibility and ensue that they pay taxes to the state and freely. Mr. Paul Motaze said these second generation projects shall crate jobs and fight unemployment as well as preempt the hazardous illicit migration trends, that have witnessed lots of Africans die in the sands of the sahara and the belly of the Mediterranean sea.

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Rita Akana

16.Jan.2018

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[19:05, 1/15/2018] +61 406 854 305: The story of the UN-British Trust Territory of Southern Cameroons has been a sad history of failed or uncompleted “decolonization”. This story has been deliberately and manipulatively reconstructed to produce one spun off the tangent of truth of her legal history in order to justify a denial of Southern Cameroons’ national identity and right to self-determination without just cause. The correct and verifiable legal history of Southern Cameroons renamed Ambazonia since October 1, 2017 when the Citizens of southern Cameroons recongregated as nationalist freedom Advocates declared a restoration of their independence from their second colonizer, their neighbor and sister African Nation, “La République du Cameroun”, is summarized hereunder:-
1.    There has never been a proper, and thus definitive ending of the United Nations Organization –British Trusteeship over British Southern Cameroons;

2.    The United Nations-British Trusteeship Agreement  as applied to Southern Cameroons permitted the initial administration of the Trust territory to be attached to the then colony of Lagos and afterwards, to the Eastern Region of the Federation of Nigeria.

3.    In 1954, dissatisfied with condescending treatment of Southern Cameroonians by the Ibos, the Southern Cameroonians quit the Eastern Nigeria Region and set up her own internal self-government in Buea within the territory of Southern Cameroons which handled the run up to independence.

4.    In the run up to independence, Southern Cameroons was screwed up into a narrow choice from two equal alternatives by which we were denied the direct access to independence. The now infamous “Two Alternatives”  put to us upon which the Plebiscite was run, was born out of an justified fear of vulnerability to “Communist infestation” and a then hidden but now very clear political economic undertone of foreign interest in the subsoil of Southern Cameroons at the time which has continued to this date to be the curse on our right to self-determination.

5.    The results of the February 11, 1961 Plebiscite on British Southern Cameroons’ pathway to independence was consecrated in UN Resolution 1608(XV)  dated April 21, 1961, which fixed the date of independence for Southern Cameroons for October 1, 1961. The said United Nations Resolution also set clear mandatory guidelines for its implementation by which the French CameroUn Republic and the already independent erstwhile British Southern Cameroons, were to work out the constitutional basis of their “joining” in order to create a national Federation of two-States of equal status.

6.    Regrettably, on September 30, 1961, aided by the then British Ambassador to that “La République du Cameroun” that had acceded to “nominal independence”  much earlier on January 1, 1960, overran Southern Cameroons thereby frustrating the ceremonial projected for October 1, 1960 in UN Resolution 1608(XV). Effectively thus, without any legal basis Southern Cameroons was recolonized sadly this time by a sister African Country that was just coming out of her own colonization under France.

7.    The Foumban so-called constitutional talks of July 27, 1961, were a failure for non-conformity with the prescriptions of UN Resolution 1608(XV) to wit: That the Southern Cameroons Delegation to the Talks should be accompanied by the British and to hold the talks with independent French Cameroun Republic.  The Foumban Talks  were never also concluded, reason why no record of such conclusion exists.

8.    It is significant to note that before coming to the Foumban Talks of July 27, 1961, President Ahmadou Ahidjo had already effected some cosmetic changes on the “Gaullist” independence Constitution of his country top read Constitution of the Federal republic of Cameroon”. In effect the Constitution  of a Federal Republic of Cameroon was forged and promulgated before the projected “ACT OF UNION” that has NEVER BEEN”.

9.    No “ACT OF UNION” exists anywhere in the world attesting to a legal or anything close thereto, as joining of Independent “La République du Cameroun” and the Erstwhile United Nations-British Trust Territory of Southern Cameroons (now renamed Ambazonia since October 1, 2017). The provisions of Article 102() of the UN Charter and Article 4(b) of the Constitutive Act of the African Union apply ;

10.    The above re-colonization has been consistently resisted under scourging oppression until early May 9, 2015 when, led by the Southern Cameroons Lawyers (Common Law Lawyers) , not only the resistance was reignited but the reignition eventually consumed the entire Country of Southern Cameroons leading to virtually everyone standing up resolutely and definitively against their further colonization;

11.    The Southern Cameroons restorative peaceful revolution has rapidly progressed to involve beyond the Southern Cameroons national territory, to include the entirety of the Southern Cameroons Diaspora  world-wide;

12.    On October 1, 2017, the Declaration of restoration of Southern Cameroons Independence was made. The declaration was subsequently followed by establishment of the Interim Government of Southern Cameroons now renamed Ambazonia ;

Southern Cameroons has since the decision to stand up for her independence, been subjected to an initially smoldering genocide which has now gone full scale;

In the face of all these developments the world has shamefully turned a blind eye to that part of humanity called Southern Cameroonians;

We are in desperate need of World Leaders in international diplomacy from The United States, Britain, Nigeria, South Africa, besides the United Nations, European union, ECOWAS, SADECC, EAEC as well as Civil Society Organizations like Amnesty International, Human rights Watch, American Bar Association and more, engaging discussion in response the to cry of the over eight million Southern Cameroonians facing genocide from the French Cameroun Republic this part of humanity gets exterminated. Do not let Rwanda repeat itself under our watchful eyes.

Prepared by Harmony Bobga Mbuton (Esq.

USA January 15, 2018

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Rita Akana

15.Jan.2018

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 Le Monde news site A French news site has pointed out that Cameroonians lack the desire to live together like one people. After all, they are not one, it has added.

Le Monde Afrique made the statement at the backdrop of the Anglophone crisis in Cameroon.

A nation is bound by two factors: A common past and the desire to live together, the site has revealed.

But Cameroon is missing both factors. The 35-year-old regime is unable to make the people feel at home.

A great part of Southern cameroons doesn't feel as if they belong in Cameroon, the news site has said. Some observers could embrace the assertion, given that hate speeches are still commonplace in both Francophone and Anglophone Cameroon.

Words and phrases like "les Bamenda", "francofools" are yet to disappear from the lexicon of so-called united Cameroon.

This is coming at a very crucial period, when Cameroon has to organize several elections while battling with the Anglophone crisis and Boko Haram.

And it's very unlikely that Mr Biya will step down at the end of his current mandate in a bit to avoid throwing the nation into chaos.

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Rita Akana

15.Jan.2018

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In Cameroon a movement is fighting for an independent “Ambazonia”, the government is hitting back hard. A Journey to the sympathizers of the uprise.

SOUTHWEST-CAMEROON taz | “In the fight against terrorism we have to act. The separatists are a terrorist threat to our country”, sounds the hoarse voice of Paul Biya out of the car’s radio. “That’s why we recruit 5000 new soldiers in January, who will bring order into the Anglophone crisis.” The message of the Cameroonian president causes laughter in the car. “The old man”, the driver is joking about the 84 year old president, who is ruling Cameroon since 35 years. “But half of the Cameroonian army is  already in the Anglophone zone. This shall solve the problem?”
In the outskirts of city Douala with millions of residents the car is snaking itself around motorbikes, trucks and taxis towards direction smaller land road. The ride goes through fields and palm forests
to Buea, a university town in the Anglophone part of Cameroon – this land part, from which a terrorist threat is originating according to the president, since separatists proclaimed the independence of “Ambazonia” there on Oct. 1st 2017.
Since then the violence increased. There are deaths regularily, thousands of people fleed into Nigeria. “The separatists have killed at least eight soldiers in Mamfe”, one traveler knows. From Mamfe, that’s where the self-proclaimed president of Ambazonia comes from, Sisiku Ayuk Tabe.

Buea: Wish for Change

The university citiy of Buea lies idyllicly at the slopes of the 4000 meter high Mount Cameroon. Nothing to see about the crisis there. The fragrance of popcorn hangs in the air, school children in uniform are walking aside well-dressed students. It is the day of receiving the diplomas. On the wide meadows of the campus the students are posing in green robes and cornered hat with smiles into the cameras.
But under the surface it is boiling. A group of young engineering students is pro separation. “Here at the university you cannot talk about it freely”, says one. “If you would do it anyway, you risk imprisonment.” He analyses: “Parallel to the violence of the government the separatist movement gains advocacy. In the beginning nobody did talk about independence.” But the government takes absurd measurements: the blue-white campus shuttle busses had to be repainted into yellow, because Ambazonia’s flag is blue-white. Students were harassed by security personal, if they wore blue-white clothes, on informatics student tells. “As Anglophone Cameroonian your are always a second class citizen”, she says.
In the francophone part of Cameroon an Anglophone would have no chance, Yanick Fonki confirms, he is chief editor of the Anglophone local newspaper “Green Vision”. “I have worked in the francophone region for five years. They treat you like a nobody, they think, they have more rights than us. When I came back I started to engage for equal treatment.” He holds the government responsible for the increasing violence: “If Biya would have engaged in dialogue with the protesters earlier, then today we would not have losses on the side of the army. The separatists protested without violence. But the army hurt and partly killed them. The violence, which is now used against the police and soldiers, is a mirror.”
Fonki still bets on a federalization of Cameroon, not on separation. “The Cameroonian army has got machine guns. The Ambazonians fight with machetes. There is blood flowing unnecessarily, which will bring no change.”
His demand is also the same of the most important political force in the Anglophone part, the Social Democratic Front (SDF), Cameroon’s biggest opposition party. “I am not pro separation”, says the SDF member Nseta Lackban: An independent state will not remove problems like corruption; most of the problems of Cameroon would comprise the whole society. By the general strike actions called “ghost town”, with which the protests began in 2016, “we only lost on our side in the first place”, he says shaking his head, “the economy here in Buea has endured extreme losses. Our children go to school again though, but in other regions they don’t since almost a year. This cannot be the solution, or can it?”

BAMENDA: Fear and Fleeing

With the night bus it goes further to the north. The bus is vexing itself through pitch dark streets with crater deep milled holes and a mountains landscape, overtaking small buses, which got stuck at a steep hill. Their weak front lights remain in the darkness. Since decades there was nothing done for the infrastructure, the bus driver explains.
Even with better road conditions we could not think about sleep: every two hours there are police controls: lights on, all must get out of the bus. With the torch they check matching of face and ID. And about two hours north of Buea social networks cannot be reach via cellphone anymore.
After seven bumpy hours the bus arrives in the dawning hours in the foggy Bamenda, the biggest city in the region. Everybody who supports Ambazonia here has to be careful. The lawyer and activist, who arrives at the hotel before sunrise, doesn’t let himself call by name or fotographed from the front. He is a demonstrator of the first hour, he had marched 2016 together with hundreds of mates for the return to federalism. Five months he had to go to prison for that. Since then he is hiding.
“The whole thing is an institutional problem”, he explains. We have no problem with our francophone brothers and sisters – they also have problems with the government. But our systems are just two different ones, which cannot be brought together anymore.”
He has studied Law in Nigeria, where he spent the time after his release. “Many heads of the movement are not in Nigeria. We can work there and speak the same language. There are some Nigerians who solidarized with our fight. In an Ambazonian trainings camp for fighters for independence close to Mamfe, which I visited, also Nigerian trainers do work. Like also francophone Cameroonians joint us in our fight.”
The lawyer is concerned about that the Ambazonia movement is not organized: Each would act on his own. There are representatives of the Southern Cameroon National Council (SCNC) in every region though. But only the diaspora would be really organized. Only in the rural areas it would be still possible to organize secret meetings.

Batibo: Hidden in the Forest

For example in Batibo, a small community 42 km southwest of Bamenda. It is market day, sheep and hens exchange the owner. By the words “Welcome to Ambaland” the leader of a small environment organization is greeting. The supporter of Ambazonia is very concerned: “Since the demonstrations there were so many captures and injured ones. Many people fled into the surrounding forests to hide.” One of his coworkers was shot by the police, he himself was picked up several times and could only come free by means of money, he says.
On the motorbike he rides into the forst to the local SCNC reverend. He lives in a red loam house deep in the forest. He is involved in the independence movement since September 2016, before the big protests. “The Ambazonia movement has founded itself in the 80s already”, he tells. “Initially we wanted to reach a referendum. Therefore I went from house to house to collect signatures – 200 of them I have already. When the protest of the lawyers and teachers started and the government became so repressive, the movement gained new dynamics. The people went on the streets and Ambazonia was their demand.” The old reverend doesn’t see a peaceful solution anymore. “I say this to my children: when I die now in the fight, then I die for the right thing.” Ambazonia – this is a free country for him, which is co-formed by the people themselves.
For good-bye he presents his blue-white Ambazonian flag and says: “In January there has to happen something.”

Original article below in German

taz.de

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Katharina Lipowsky II TAZ Magazine

12.Jan.2018

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The member of parliament of the Jakiri constituency in the North West Region has reacted bitterly to the arrests of Interim president Sisiku Ayuk Tabe and Co.

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Emergency Admin

12.Jan.2018

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UNITED SUPPORT FOR PEACE (NGO) TRACE ABDUCTED AMBAZONIA LEADERS AT A NEW LOCATION IN THE NIGERIA DEFENSE INTELLIGENCE AGENCY IN ABUJA !

The ambazonia leaders abducted in Nigeria are safe and sound and only a step away before they regain their freedom.

In the name of God, in the high safety interest of Ambazonia Leaders abducted in Nigeria and in the highest interest of peace and security between Francophones and Anglophones and between Ambazonians and Nigerians all over the world, I engaged the services and resources of United Support for Peace NGO (a US based International NGO) to locate the whereabouts of Ambazonia abducted Leaders.

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Rita Akana

12.Jan.2018

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