Southern Cameroons fighters have reportedly blocked a newly built road linking the capital of the Menchum County to Bamenda, Cameroon Intelligence Report has learnt, while CRTV Bamenda reported that troops loyal to the Biya regime in Yaoundé secured a strategic highway between Batibo and Mamfe, the chief town in the Manyu County.

In the Northern Zone of Southern Cameroons, Ambazonia Restoration Forces took over three Cameroon government gendarmerie posts on the truck A road that serves as an alternate route into Wum via Fundong after days of fighting. The Rapid Intervention Battalion built the bypass after Southern Cameroons Self Defense forces cut off the original main route to Menchum.

Meanwhile, the Francophone dominated army say they have been able to secure the highway linking Muyuka and Kumba.  The reports came as CEMAC nations hinted that some of the challenges confronting France-Afrique of which CEMAC is the heart-beat, included the growing debate on colonial security, economic and cultural pacts, the CFA Franc, the Multinational war against Boko Haram, Maritime Security in the Gulf of Guinea, the instability in CAR and the DRC Congo.  The sick French Cameroun despot with a failing memory was chosen recently to lead the group.

The United States so far has balked at the Ambazonia Diaspora sending weapons to the Southern Cameroons Restoration Forces, fearing the arms could end up in the hands of extremists. Over 430,000 have fled in response to the violence. The violence is also compounding poverty in the country, as farmers have been forced to abandon their crops and exports are in decline.

As a result of the violence, earlier this week, the U.S. placed sanctions on over 20 military personnel, civilian actors, and government ministers in Cameroon. Aid programs and military training by the U.S. have been withdrawn. France has kept the faith in the 86 years old Biya supplying his regime with guns.

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai