The Vice President of the Southern Cameroons Interim Government, Dabney Yerima says the Biya French Cameroun regime is doing all it can to implement disunity among Ambazonian front line groups and prevent dialog between the two Cameroons.

“The Ambazonia Interim Government is interested in holding a frank, candid and confidence-building dialog with the people of La Republique du Cameroun and their government in Yaoundé powered by the United Nations Security Council,” Dabney Yerima was cited by Cameroon Intelligence Report Holland Bureau Chief as telling a war cabinet meeting on Tuesday.

Yerima, however, noted that “Unfortunately, the corrupt  regime in La Republique du Cameroun have been doing their utmost to keep Southern Cameroons restoration groups at daggers-drawn positions while thwarting dialog between the Federal Republic of Ambazonia and La Republique du Cameroun.”

The United States Congress on 8 September 2020 introduced Resolution 684 on the crisis in Southern Cameroons which was adopted on 1 January 2021.

The US Congress (Senate and House of Representatives) called on “the government of Cameroon and the separatist armed groups in the English-speaking regions of the North-West and South-West to put an end to all violence, to respect the human rights of all Cameroonians, and to pursue a truly inclusive dialogue with a view to resolving the ongoing civil conflict in English-speaking Cameroon”.

Resolution 684 “condemns the abuses committed by state security forces and armed groups in the northwest and southwest regions of Cameroon, and affirms that the United States continues to hold the Government of Cameroon accountable for safeguarding the security and constitutional rights of all its citizens, regardless of region, religion, or political opinion. In addition, it urges all parties to the conflict in Cameroon, the Government of Cameroon, U.S. foreign relations entities, and members of the international community to take specific steps to resolve the ongoing civil conflict in Cameroon.

The U.S. Congress was also critical of France’s action in the conflict.  “…France maintains considerable interests in Cameroon, including significant economic and security cooperation, but has not sufficiently used its influence to stem atrocities committed in English-speaking regions or to support stronger international action to seek a resolution to the conflict,” it said.

For the record, the crisis in the English-speaking region, which is now in its fifth year, has already resulted, according to NGOs, in more than 5,000 deaths and around 700,000 displaced persons. As a result of this conflict, some 3 million people are in need of humanitarian assistance and 855,000 children are out of school.

Elsewhere in his remarks, Dabney Yerima stated that the Southern Cameroons Interim Government had announced a proposal for the UN to send a fact-finding mission to Southern Cameroons which would be particularly aimed at developing dialog between Ambazonia and La Republique du Cameroun.

By Isong Asu in London