Politics

Since the escalation of the Anglophone Crisis in November, 2016, many self-proclaimed Prophets, Apostles, Evangelists, Right Reverends and other men of God went amok with a galore of prophecies over the envisaged new polity.

But ever since Government responded with a heavy fist, characterised by haphazard arrests, intimidation and threats of incarceration, most of the Prophets, whose pulpits were gradually transformed into liberation rally grounds under the guise of prophesies, have suddenly gone taciturn.

Many of such Pentecostal preachers, who were noted for issuing minute-by-minute prophecies on what twist the crisis was going to take next have since gone into oblivion.

Rumour mill are already grinding that the rather change of attitude by the clerics is due to the fact that most of the Churches are yet to be granted authorisation by the Government.

The situation is further compounded by the fact that the Government recently launched a fierce war against clandestine churches in Cameroon. So, many of such men of God are scared to attract unnecessary attention, because of such prophecies.

But a pastor in one of the Pentecostal churches, who spoke this reporter, asserted that “Government has nothing to do with our prophetic messages. It is not every message that God gives his servants that must be made public,” he said.

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Abeh Valery

28.Aug.2017

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Exasperated by many attacks and killings, at least 400 Cameroonian villagers stormed a Nigerian territory on Friday in search of Boko Haram terrorists, but details were just beginning to come out.

Local newspaper, L’Oeil du Sahel, said the inhabitants of Madina and Boulo localities in the Logone and Chari department,  Cameron’s far north, conducted a raid in Nigeria on August 25.

Despite assurances from Cameroonian and Nigerian authorities that the terrorists were on the run, more people are being killed regularly and the populations seem to be taking their destiny into their hands.

Boko Haram has been wreaking havoc in Cameroon since 2014, killing thousands of people and displacing hundreds of thousands.

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Simon Ateba

28.Aug.2017

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The National Chairman of the Social Democratic Front (SDF), Ni Johne Fru Ndi, has told the visiting United Nations Human Rights team to the Anglophone Regions that there will be no effective school resumption in the two Regions of Cameroon, until those arrested in the wake of the on-going Anglophone Crisis are released.  

Fru Ndi was speaking at his Ntarikon residence, while receiving in audience UN human rights team led by the Regional Director of the United Nations Commission on Human Rights and Democracy for Central Africa, Ahowanou Agbessi.

The SDF Chieftain told the UN visiting team that the Biya regime is not prepared to dialogue with the disgruntled teachers and lawyers. 

“This is a Government that is not ready to dialogue with its own people, but will prefer to negotiate for the release of captives from the fangs of Boko Haram with huge ransoms.” 

Fru Ndi further stated that the SDF, in its last executive meeting, resolved that schools can only resume effectively, if all the Anglophone detainees held in Yaounde are freed, if all lawyers who have gone on self exile are brought back to the country and if all haphazard arrest and detention of Anglophone are stopped.

Speaking at the occasion, the Regional Director of the United Nations Commission on Human Rights and Democracy for Central Africa, Ahowanou Agbessi, expressed worries that the Anglophone Crisis may plunged the country into a civil war.

According to Agbessi, the UN officials in Geneva are worried that there is no lasting solution to the crisis yet, and as such,  they keep asking us to get down to the field, take the pause and render an account of what is actually happening. 

Agbessi, however said, UN role is to promote human rights and democracy and not to name and shame anybody but to encourage constructive dialogue for a peaceful resolution to the Problem.

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Abeh Valery

28.Aug.2017

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Newly appointed Nigerian Consul General to the Southwest and Northwest Regions of Cameroon, Mallam Muhamed Arzika, has warned his compatriots, resident in Cameroon to refrain from secessionist and terrorist activities that may jeopardise the bilateral cooperation between the two countries.

The diplomat was addressing the Nigerian community in the two Regions of Cameroon during his maiden outing.

According him, the Federal Republic of Nigeria and the Republic of Cameroon enjoy fruitful bilateral ties that must not be compromised, especially as both countries battle insecurity pose by Boko Haram.

He frowned at some Nigerians who are incarcerated in some prisons in Cameroon, challenging them to ask themselves why they are detained.

He blamed some of them for being ignorant of the laws governing their stay in Cameroon and enjoined them to always concert with their families back home before travelling out of Nigeria.

He advised them to desist from the unnecessary quest for big, fast and cheap money, which he said often land them into serious problems.

He pledged to work with the Superintendent of Prisons and other judicial officials in Cameroon to facilitate the release of Nigerian prisoners with minor crimes and those with little fines to pay, while reiterating the need for them to stay out of trouble.

Other speakers like the President of the Nigerian Union in Bamenda, Samuel Ebere, said despite the little misunderstandings, Nigerian communities in Cameroon live in peace, but for the fact that most of them are reticent to procure the Residence Permit.

The Consul General promised to look into the Residence Permit issue in collaboration with the Immigration authorities of Cameroon.

To the Nigerian prisoners, the Consul General came along with a huge consignment of food stuff, medicines and toiletries.

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Abeh Valery

25.Aug.2017

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An infuriated politician of the ruling Cameroon People’s Democratic Movement (CPDM) in Meme Division, South West Region of Cameroon, Lawson Tabot Bakia, has expressed disgust at the indifference of the Ministers of Basic and Secondary Education over  school resumption in the Anglophone Regions of Cameroon.

Tabot is enraged by the fact that since November 21, 2016, pupils and students in the North West and South West Regions of Cameroon have not been to schools because of the indefinite strike action declared by the Anglophone Teachers’ Trade Unions.

With the resumption of the 2017/2018 academic year expected to commence in less than 12 days, the politician is worried that none of the two Ministers, who are supposed to be crusading for school resumption have shown any interest for the resumption of schools in the violence-plagued Regions.

Tabot vented out his frustration on the sidelines of a CPDM Section in Kumba recently.

" I frown largely at the authorities of Government Secondary schools and I am even against the Ministers... we are less than 12 days  to school reopening, there has been no transfers. The Ministers are aware that there are some principals and head teachers in these schools who are the cause of children not going to school. They are supposed to have caused some transfers, so that everybody is aware and equally there are supposed to have published the book lists. But the book list was only published two days ago," Tabot stated.

He further lamented that the Ministers have gone mute even to make public announcements in churches and on the media for admissions and other back to school activities.

He told the press that, the CPDM has the right as the ruling party to call on the population to send their children back to school for the forthcoming academic year.

 “We are not talking about the Anglophone Problem. We are asking that children should go back to school...as a leading party; we have a right to call on our population to go back to school. It is our right. As a ruling party, it is our right to stand and make our voices heard that schools should resume. Our children should not stay in the house," the Section President appealed.

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Abeh Valery

25.Aug.2017

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Police arrested Hans Achomba, a Cameroonian freelance journalist and documentary film-maker, in Bamenda on January 23, 2017, according to his wife, Lilian Shiya.

According to a notice that Shiya photographed outside the military tribunal offices where Achomba appeared, he is accused of complicity of hostility against the fatherland, secession, propagation of false news, insurrection, incitement to civil war, and complicity in acts of terrorism.

Shiya said that court proceedings were held in French, despite Achomba being an English speaker.

Police arrested Achomba after the journalist was seen speaking to a cyclist about why he was on the streets on a "Ghost Town" day--the name Cameroonians gave to a series of protests, strikes, and shutdowns in the country's English-speaking regions.

During questioning, police checked Achomba's cell phone and saw photographs of him wearing a political T-shirt at a rally called by opposition parliamentarian Joseph Wirba, that authorities banned, Shiya said. Police also found his press card, she said.

When police questioned Achomba, he told them he had worked in South Africa. A large Cameroonian community that authorities believe are fueling the unrest in the English-speaking regions lives in South Africa.

"They drew conclusions that he was gathering facts to send or make news on the recent Anglophone riots as he also had pictures and videos of street demonstrations," Shiya told CPJ

"They were questioning why he was in South Africa and the fact that he returned to Cameroon for [our] wedding didn't seem to make a difference," she said.

Achomba makes documentaries for the state-run Chinese broadcaster CCTV. He produces documentaries on wildlife as well as politicians such as Namibia's founding father, Sam Nujoma, and that late Mozambican president Samora Machel. At the time of his arrest he was producing a two-part documentary about the Southern Cameroons' struggle for liberation, according to a journalist, who spoke with CPJ on condition on the anonymity for fear of reprisal.

Achomba was transferred to police headquarters in Yaoundé in the early hours of January 24, 2017. He was kept in crowded cells with no toilet for three weeks, before being moved to Kondengui prison, Shiya said.

The journalist's wife added that when she first saw her husband after his arrest, he looked like he had been beaten. His feet were swollen and he could hardly walk. Shiya said that her husband told her that police used batons to beat him on the soles and top of his feet. They stepped on his stomach and crotch and threatened to cut off his fingers.

"They were making comments about him getting married and told him he would not see me anymore," she told CPJ.

Cameroon's president's office and the official government spokesperson did not immediately respond to CPJ's request for comment.

Shiya said that she travelled to Yaoundé, about 230 miles from their home in Bamenda, for a few months to see her husband more regularly, but because she was pregnant at the time of his arrest she had to return home. The couple's baby boy, Alex, was born while Achomba was in custody.

cpj.org

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Rita Akana

23.Aug.2017

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