Cameroon Concord News Group applauds the policy statement of the Interim Government of the Federal Republic of Ambazonia on the Interim Government endorsement of the legitimate right of Ambazonians to self defense. Cameroon Concord News also applauds the commitment made by the Interim Government of the Federal Republic of Ambazonia to pursue the search and rescue with reinvigorated intensity, of President Sisiku Ayuk Tabe and members of the Interim Government who were abducted in Abuja Nigeria on 5^th January 2018.

Cameroun published some information on how this terrorist operation was executed. This was a special joint terrorist operation ordered and superintended by the Special Security Adviser to President Buhari, Babagana Mohammed Munagano.  Mohammed Babagana Mungano provided the participating members of the Special Operations Unit of the Presidency of French Cameroun deployed for the mission by Martin Belinga Eboutou, the Director of the Civil Cabinet of French Cameroun with Nigeria army uniforms. Martin Belinga Eboutou is the defacto President of French Cameroun due to the agony which the prostate cancer incapacitated and demented incumbent is undergoing.  The dictator whose death has been speculated in recent times, can no longer provide effective leadership on any significant matter.

Cameroon Concord News Group brought to the attention of the world that the intention of providing the participating members of French Cameroun’s special operations unit Nigerian Army uniforms was to conceal the presence and criminal activities of a foreign army in the territory of Nigeria, particularly in Abuja, the capital of the Federation of Nigeria.  The entire operation was mired in corruption of unprecedented proportions, bankrolled on behalf of French Cameroun by Martin Belinga Eboutou. The proceeds of the corrupt terrorist operation benefitted President Buhari, his Vice President Yemi Osibanjo, Mohammed Babagana Mungano, the National Security Adviser and a coterie of persons within the corrupt cartel of ethnic clansmen in the Buhari administration.

Babagana Mohammed Mungano in his outing failed to provide critical information to Nigerians about the secretive criminal corrupt operation.  Where were the Ambazonia leaders abducted? By who? Where are they? In Nigeria or in French Cameroun?  What was the legal basis for their abduction? Without confirming or denying the public statements by his ethnic Fulani brethren and Boko Haram collaborationist Issa Tchiroma Bakary, the spokesman for the French Cameroun Government that the abductees were in their custody, Mohammed Babagana Mungano, justified his criminal conduct on behalf of the Federal Government as an attempt to deny Nigeria being used to destabilize French Cameroun.  The hypocrisy in this attempt to justify the violations of international law is evident in the double standards evident in Buhari’s approach to opposing supposed attempts to destabilize French Cameroun from Nigeria.  The abduction in violation of the Nigeria’s constitution through the impermissible criminal conduct contradicts the support and sanctuary that Buhari in his first administration provided to his Fulani ethnic co-conspirators Bello Bouba Maigari and others wanted then in French Cameroun for staging a failed coup d’etat that claimed thousands of lives.  The motivation for the abduction of the President and members of the Interim Government of the Federal Republic of Ambazonia was therefore purely actuated by corruption and a desire to enrich a political cabal formed around President Buhari to ensure his political survival in the next elections in 2019.

Cameroon Concord News Group strongly urges the Interim Government to deploy every means possible including securing the support of partners worldwide to locate and free our leaders whether held in Nigeria as some leads suggest or in French Cameroun.  Cameroun Concord News strongly denounces the legitimization of terrorism by Nigeria and French Cameroun through the abduction of Ambazonia leaders who were legally in Nigeria under the protection of international law and Nigeria international treaty obligations.   If nothing is done and this abduction left unsanctioned, it may legitimize the crime terror, threatening peace and security in the sub-region.

Cameroon Concord News Group is concerned that the message by the United Nations High Commission for the Refugees condemning this violation of international law has not been followed by a strong resolve urging Nigeria to produce the abductees and return them to the custody of the UNHCR.  The abduction is not a mere state violation of its treaty obligation; it is an interstate parties’ criminal conduct that sets a dangerous precedent in a volatile sub-region where international peace and security concerns are constantly making the international community nervous.  Is the United Nations by its timid reaction tacitly suggesting that Ambazonia left to itself, should seriously consider resorting to a tit for tat reprisal using the same methods to discourage the abduction of its citizens and leader by Nigeria and French Cameroun? How different are the pecuniary, or even political motivation for the abduction of the Ambazonia leaders different from the abduction for ransom crimes that French Cameroun Government officials have arranged with Boko Haram in the past by abducting foreign nationals for ransom? If left without a strong response and sanctions, will this abduction not legitimize the many ransom for freedom abductions against prominent politicians, their families and businessmen?

Cameroon Concord News Group strongly supports the decision of the Interim Government banning all elections in Ambazonia organized by French Cameroun. In view of the declaration of war made by Paul Biya against Ambazonia, the said elections are intended to support the war efforts of this foreign government, against Ambazonia.  There can be no credible election when the electorate is being pursued and massacred by enemy forces and many are in refugee camps in Nigeria and others are in the forests. Cameroon Concord News Group agrees that any Ambazonian or anyone residing in the territory of Ambazonia or deployed to the territory of Ambazonia taking part in the same elections must be considered a war enemy ally.

Cameroon Concord News Group holds the opinion that the long-awaited policy statement on self defense is most welcome. In this regard, Cameroon Concord News Group once more calls for the unity of all Ambazonians to support the realization of the self-defense efforts of the Interim Government. Cameroon Concord News Group encourages Ambazonians at home and abroad to contribute to the Interim Government generously towards the defense of our fatherland.  Cameroon Concord News urges all freedom loving people in the world to strongly support the Ambazonia self-defense efforts.

Cameroon Concord News Group applauds the efforts made by neighbouring communities in Nigeria, the Governors of these neighbouring states, individuals and communities within Nigeria, politicians, businessmen, churches, men and women of goodwill in Nigeria and worldwide who through prayers, financial and material contributions or other means are helping our refugees and supporting our cause.  Your understanding of our plight and predicament, despite the outrageous conduct of some elements within the Federal Government, highlights the grandeur of the human spirit and the rule of law character of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.  Your support for our refugees and seeking the release of our abducted leaders and the justice of our quest for freedom are greatest appreciated. Cameroon Concord News Group is optimistic that victory belongs to the people of the Federal Republic of Ambazonia.

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai

Chairman, Editor-in-Chief

Cameroon Concord News Group

Cameroon Concord News Group strongly advocates the formation of “The 5th of January Movement” in Nigeria to condemn the abduction, that day, of of Ambazonia leaders in Abuja, Nigeria. The consequences of not holding the perpetrator of the crimes accountable for their conduct will be that, their criminal conduct will embolden criminal gangs in Nigeria and elsewhere in Africa to legitimize terrorism warfare as a legitimate means of settling problems of an economic and political nature. Abduction for ransom is already a critical law problem in Nigeria and French Cameroun. Although formally outlawed in Nigeria, it is official government policy in French Cameroun. Over a period of fifty-six years, French Cameroun gendarmes and other security operatives ransom Southern Cameroonians for huge bribes to regain their Freedom. The majority poor without money perish in concentration camps and inhuman dungeons at the pleasure of colonial administrators of French Cameroun. The war against Boko Haram provided French Cameroun Government officials the opportunity to arrange the abduction of foreigners with their supposed Boko Haram partners in exchange for huge ransom money which they partition among themselves. The success of this business inspired the abduction Southern Cameroons leaders for money.

History will retain that on the 5^th of January 2018, Nigeria formally endorsed terrorism warfare by abducting the President of the Southern Cameroons/Ambazonia and members of the Interim Government of the Federal Republic of Ambazonia who were legally in Nigeria under the protection of International Law. Nigeria has been widely condemned for resorting to this criminal conduct in abducting the Ambazonia leaders. They were wards of international law. By relying on terrorist means to abduct and disappear them, Nigeria committed crimes against the international rule law, and the international peace and security value system which is jealously guarded and protected by the collective conscience of humanity. These values are protected by the international multilateral treaty regime and Rome Statute which Nigeria subscribed to and become a state party to.

By becoming an associate of the regime of terror in French Cameroun that has terrorized, disappeared and massacred hundreds of thousands of colonized Southern Cameroonians over a period of fifty-six years, Nigeria has willfully transformed its national territory and the Gulf of Guinea into a terrorist paradise at the service of criminal bands holding on to political power through corruption and other criminal means in both countries.  This new strategy of terrorism warfare aimed at abducting, killing and disappearing civilian leaders for political and economic benefits will surely be emulated and applied with great efficiency within the sub region and beyond.  The pecuniary motivations for the abductions, the use of terrorism warfare to carry out the operation in attempts to evade the scrutiny of legitimate government security and intelligence operatives, points to the existence of parallel command structures outside the constitutional structures of supposed civilian democratic governance.

The abduction of Southern Cameroons leaders in Abuja on the 5^th of January 2018 must therefore elicit an appropriate response from rule of law activists worldwide.  A 5th January Movement will mobilize Nigerians and people of good will worldwide to mount a sustained campaign against the new criminal system of terrorism warfare that was launched by Nigeria and French Cameroun in Abuja through the abduction and disappearance of Ambazonia leaders. This is not just an Ambazonia problem. It is a problem of humanity at large. If nothing is done then a few months from now, several civilian leaders in all walks of life, in commerce and industry, in politics, religion, civil administration etc will become legitimate targets of abductions for all manner of political and pecuniary interest.  Nigeria must therefore be forced to produce and release Ambazonia leaders forthwith.

Ambazonia has far in the exercise of its legitimate right of self defense not targeted civilians or persons not taking part in the international armed conflict between it and its neighbouring country French Cameroun.  If Nigeria is not pressurized to release Ambazonia leaders and French Cameroun forced by the International Community to release and Ambazonians held it captivity, then Ambazonia may be forced to employ a tit for tat war policy against hundreds of French Cameroun’s proconsuls within its national territory.  Ambazonia has already ordered them to leave the Federal Republic of Ambazonia immediately. Neither French Cameroun nor Nigeria gave Ambazonia leaders this option; they cowardly abducted them in a criminal corruption scheme unprecedented in Nigerian history.  History of human power has a life span. For this reason, Babagana Mohammed Mungano a key actor in this criminal scheme will sooner or later provide a public account of what transpired while the Ambazonia train of freedom will continue to race towards its final destination un hampered even by this criminal act.

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai

Chairman, Editor-in-Chief

Cameroon Concord News Group

Cameroon Concord News Group consistently advised the conveners of the so-called Reboot Conference to approach and work with the Interim Government if it intended to have legitimacy. Mistaking angry rhetoric, demagogy and self-importance for liberation strategy, they ignored the advice. The claim to power by some of the organizers is predicated on their longevity in the Ambazonia quest for freedom. This claim is based on a false reading of the history of the Ambazonia liberation struggle.

The Lawyers and teachers who took the struggle to the next level which has compelled the world at long last to start paying attention to the Ambazonia cause were not members of any of the platforms on which these individuals are relying on to justify their claims to leadership of the struggle. These individuals were taken off guard when the lawyers and teachers revolution occurred and transmuted to the Ambazonia freedom revolution, suggesting that the platforms and methods they provided were faulty; short sighted or simply lacked the humbling visionary ideology to rally the people towards reclaiming our independence.

Cameroon Concord News is therefore surprised that the so-called reboot conference is intending to reinvent the wheels of the Ambazonia liberation struggle by attempting to drag Ambazonia back to the divisive and visionless politics of self-fulfillment that stifled the cause for a sizeable period of our fifty-six years enslavement. Over a period of several years, these individuals solicited and obtained contributions from Ambazonians without accountability. None of them has contributed to the thousands of Ambazonian refugees in Nigeria nor have any of their appeals for funds targeted the welfare of the refugees.  Some of them spend time issuing threats to Ambazonians who have questioned their motives and their methods.

The involvement of CRTV journalists in the reboot conference poses serious problems. Can they be relied on to lead this struggle?

Cameroon Concord News Group requested to know the objectives of the so-called reboot conference, but their objectives are fuzzy. Coming at a time when Ambazonians have placed three critical issues on the agenda of our liberation struggle, the reboot conference as Cho Ayaba has stated in an audio message through a proxy, is to delegitimize the Interim Government and to validate their old wine in new skins which personalized power over the years.   Absent from their agenda are a clear strategy on how to defend our homeland, our refugee crisis, the liberation of our President Sisiku Ayuk Tabe, members of the interim government, Mancho Bibixy and thousands of our citizens in captivity. Also absent is a credible diplomatic roadmap taking into consideration the sub-regional and international dynamics of our struggle and strategic interests.

The conveners of the reboot conference are strange bed fellows united by their search for power, access to contributions from Ambazonians and the delegitimization of the Interim Government.  The reboot conference may signal the last time the conveners agree on any credible strategy on how to prosecute our liberation struggle. Boh Hebert vehemently opposes the military solution, while Cho Ayaba and Akwanga support it. None of them has the credential or the means to conduct viable diplomacy. They lack the temperament and tack to venture in that field. So therefore, what will unite them after the conference? How will the conference resolutions be implemented?

The attention of the international community is turned towards the President and members in captivity that they recognize as the legitimate leaders of Ambazonia. The reboot conference cannot and will not reinvent new leaders acceptable to the international community outside the Interim Government. The abduction of the president and members of the interim government by a joint force of Nigeria and French Cameroon has greatly legitimized the interim government and its leaders in captivity. The involvement of Nigeria has internationalized the Ambazonia cause.  While they are in captivity, a dissident group of individuals cannot replace them, or even take away the focus from them. The abduction in Nigeria is a serious international matter and places Nigeria as a key factor in the Ambazonia crisis.

No one in the international community will seek out for Boh Hebert, Ayaba, Akwanga, John Mbah Akuro as credible interlocutors in the Ambazonia crisis. The international community rally around the abductions and the request to free our leaders to de-escalate the conflict for an all embracing dialogue to occur.  Had the reboot conference conveners been intelligent enough to read the international mood, they would have moved to work with the Interim Government to own the focus on putting pressure on Nigeria over the abductions, its support for the genocide in Ambazonia, the refugee crisis and the war efforts to defend and free our land.

The abduction of our leaders and the refugee crisis are already at the international domain and key world powers and the UN are already on the files. The war crimes and genocide in our homeland are already being condemned. If the reboot conference conveners think that they can pit one issue, armed resistance, and funding to attain it and hope to attract enough world support for our cause, them they need to go back to school and study strategic diplomacy and world politics. The refugee problems are a critical issue that quickly invites United Nations and world intervention in crisis. That too will put pressure on Nigeria and the abduction will hasten the focus and intervention.

Self defense and its funding which seems to be the focus of the reboot conference is a laudable objective. But the question is what unites Boh Hebert, Akwanga, Cho Ayaba and John Mbah Akuro around this objective? What? Cameroon Concord News begs to ask. Cameroon Concord News strongly advises the conveners of the reboot conference to urgently engage in a discussion with the Acting President and the Interim Government with a view to restructuring the Interim Government to accommodate them so that an inclusive conference can be called to move our struggle energetically and with a respectable visionary focus.

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai

Chairman, Editor-in-Chief

Cameroon Concord News Group

Cameroon Concord News Group is concerned that the reboot conference called for Washington DC may already have been infiltrated by agents of French Cameroun intelligence services. Cameroon Concord News Group has no reason to doubt or call to question the patriotism of some of the organizers or participants in the conference. We of this publication are however concerned about the indiscretion of some of the conference organizers and the apparent insensitivity towards the abduction of our leaders assembled in a Nigerian hotel and the consequences towards their freedom, that all our abductees and the total freedom of our Ambazonia homeland. Whether the indiscretion and insensitivity are intended or not, the potential consequences of such conduct may have untold consequences for the Ambazonia revolution.

For example, no reasonable persons are on record as advertising the convening of a conference open to all and sundry, intended to discuss strategy relating to their country at war.  They will anticipate that the enemy will infiltrate and gather the intelligence required to subvert their war efforts. Hopefully the conveners of the reboot conference are aware of this.

Cameroon Concord News Group does not make value judgment about whether the said conference is intended for best interest of the Ambazonian revolution. Indeed, Cameroon Concord News Group   accuses no one of treachery. Cameroon Concord News Group does not call the patriotism or loyalty to of the conveners to the cause into question.  Although planned before the abduction of our President Sisiku Ayuk Tabe and members of the Interim Government of the Federal Republic of Ambazonia on 5th January 2018, Cameroon Concord News Group is concerned that coming so soon after the said abduction, the timing of the conference may call its legitimacy into question.  Some of the conveners of the conference have been adversely mentioned in the treachery that aided Nigerian and French Cameroons to abduct our leaders in a joint operation supervised by Martin Belinga Eboutou, President Paul Biya’s Director of Cabinet and Babagana Munguno, Buhari’s National Security Adviser.

Cameroon Concord News Group is not suggesting that similar abductions or disappearances of our frontline leaders who convened or are participating in the conference were it to occur, will take place during the conference or on American soil. What is obvious is that some of the participating organizations may already have been infiltrated by La Republique du Cameroun in several ways, known and unknown. This should not be a reason to dispel because the different organizations must have effective and efficient intelligence to confront the enemies on their own terms. Vigilance is however warranted.

Whether these organizations and their leaders are aware of the infiltration is not known; indeed, some of them may not be aware of this fact even when there are clear indicators within their reach. It may not be lost on them that they may consciously or unconsciously allow French Cameroun by proxy into the conference. The intrusion of French Cameroun might have commenced right from the moment of conception, planning and the holding of the conference.

Cameroon Concord News Group is aware that what united the organizers of the reboot conference when the idea was first conceived was their opposition to the Interim Government of the Federal Republic of Ambazonia.  It was a false premise motivated by the search for power. It was not an honourable premise to seek a united front to prosecute the Ambazonia liberation agenda.  Today the conveners are ideologically, strategically and tactically far apart and a single reboot conference may not bridge the ideological, strategic and tactical gap between them.  What unites them as they attend the conference, is the common desire to mobilize Ambazonians to contribute generously towards the realization of the liberation and defense objectives of each organization. That goal can be better attained by reaching out and working with the Interim Government. Without the interim government on board, the objectives no matter how laudable will not be entirely successful.  If the liberation of the President, members of the Interim Government, all abductees or disappeared Ambazonians held in captivity by French Cameroun is placed on top of the agenda of the conference, it may attain the highly required legitimacy to rally many Ambazonians around the liberation goals which the Interim Government and a majority of Ambazonians stand for.  This regrettably so far seems not to be the prospective focus of the conference. In the result, the conference may come out with resolutions and structures that will not resonate with a majority of Ambazonians.

Again, Cameroon Concord News Group is of the considered opinion that serious and reasonable organizations do not summon conferences with high possibilities of infiltration to discuss strategy about the defense objectives of their countries at war. If they are under the illusion that they can discuss strategic matters of such sensitive nature in the reboot conference with the significant possibility of French Cameroun’s agents in attendance, then they must be mistaken.

The conference will surely lay an elaborate mechanism for Ambazonians to fund the war of liberation through structures which they will put in place. But the unintended consequences of the conference may occur weeks or months after the conference. If care is not taken, these unintended consequences may outweigh the gains obtained at the conference.  The elaborate strategies for the defence of the home land that will be discussed at the conference will almost immediately be betrayed to French Cameroun intelligence operating from its Embassies in Washington DC and in New York.  From then some of our over confident but unsuspecting leaders will be approached by all manner of persons and organizations with promises to assist them realize our defence needs and objectives. An uncritical acceptance of such assistance or endeavour may be very costly.

We learn from Mbah John Akuro who did not attend the meeting in Nigeria when our leaders were abducted that French Cameroun and their corrupt collaborators within the Nigerian Government played on the consistent request of our President and the Interim Government for an inclusive dialogue as opposed to war to resolve the conflict. All-inclusive dialogue which our President and the interim government endorsed, we all know, is the stated position of the United Nations, The African Union, The Commonwealth, The United States of America, Great Britain, Equatorial Guinea, Nigeria, France and most of international organizations. Our Interim Government endorsed this all-inclusive dialogue option over armed conflict. This position which is favoured by the international community and our interim government has been clearly endorsed by most of our people. This stated position of our interim government was rejected by French Cameroun on the one part and some of our constituent organizations participating in the reboot conference. To the extent that French Cameroun opted for war and indeed declared it; a number of our liberation organizations saw no need to claim an elusive all-inclusive dialogue while our people are systematically slaughtered in their thousands in their ancestral homes by French Cameroun’s terrorist regime.  They opted for self-defense, an option the interim government did not rule out but was slow to adopt. The interim President stated this in his end of year address to Ambazonians and the communication secretary Chris Anu re-emphasized this in his follow-up comments after the President’s widely received and applauded speech.

John Mbah Akuro did not attend the meeting in Abuja Nigeria in which the President and members of the interim government were abducted.  He was not invited but somehow knew that the objective of the meeting was not to discuss assistance to our refugees in Nigeria. According to his recorded and widely publicized audio address to Ambazonians, all and sundry, he said that the alleged conference was convened to commence preliminary discussions on the all-inclusive dialogue proposed by the international community and endorsed by the Interim Government. How he knew about this is not the subject of our enquiry now.

The information is important for two reasons.  Nigeria to whom the Interim Government made several entreaties to act as a mediator and to host the all inclusive dialogue proposed by the international community, upon receiving huge bribes from French Cameroun, abused the confidence placed on the Federal Government by the Interim Government by using the all-inclusive dialogue to lure and entrap the President and members of the interim government to be abducted by a combined force of Nigerian national intelligence operatives and French Cameroun’s special operations operatives. Nigeria provided operatives of French Cameroun’s special operation forces uniforms of Nigerian national intelligence operatives for the special criminal operation.

Our investigators in Abuja serving with Cameroon Intelligence Report have obtained credible intelligence reports from inside the National Security Adviser’s services who participated in the operation. According our intelligence sources whose have opted for anonymity to protect their identities,  Martin Belinga Eboutou bankrolled and oversaw the operations in Nigeria on behalf of  French Cameroun while Babagana Mungano the National Security Adviser to Buhari oversaw the operation on behalf of President Buhari and his Vice President Professor Yemi Osibanjo.  The captives were transported to French Cameroun the same day, after the option to execute them was scuttled by the alarm raised by Millan Atam twenty-four hours after the abduction.  Although Millan Atam who was supposed to participated in the conference failed to participate ostensibly for yet controversial reasons. He has so far not made a statement about the purpose of the meeting.  Cameroon Concord News Group investigators have   obtained information from sources close to the National Security Adviser’s services in Nigeria corroborated by other Nigerian and French Cameroun intelligence services about some details of the criminal operation.  At some point in time, Nigeria gave clear indications, that it could play a mediating role in the conflict, urged on by key international organizations and reached out to French Cameroun to convey its availability in doing so. While some members of the Nigerian diplomatic community were warm about this option and were preparing for it, through the influence of the French mission in Abuja and technical intelligence tending to show strong international support for such an initiative, French Cameroun opted to scuttle the international effort by corrupting the close circle of power around President Buhari, including the Vice President Yemi Osibanjo who influenced Buhari to go ahead and sabotage the mediation option through an abduction.

A plan was therefore conceived and put in place for President Buhari and Vice President Osinbanjo to abuse the faith placed in Nigeria to mediate in African conflicts for pecuniary reasons. The amount of the money offered them was such that they could not resist the humiliating bait at the cost of the honour and dignity of Nigeria whom they represent.   With the evidence of the criminal operation coming out to the public domain, and the possibility of an investigation in Nigeria  and internationally after Buhari leaves office, it is increasingly obvious that Nigeria must do so much hence to be trusted as a credible player in the mediation of African disputes.

Cameroon Concord News Group having corroborated in part, the narrative provided by John Mbah Akuro, is conscious of the fact that John Mbah Akuro is one of the organizers of the reboot conference.  He has publicly stated that he will not be attending the conference because he is fleeing for his dear life and may have left Nigeria. It should concern other organizers and attendees that one of the proponents and organizers of the reboot conference will not be attending due to security challenges that he is facing prospectively from French Cameroun and its Nigerian partners.  He should provide his reboot colleagues with intelligence relating to the forces deployed by the enemy to go after him and the reasons why.

The reason for revisiting the abduction of the President and members of the interim government is to explain to the reboot conference organizers and members of the constituent organizations to be careful of persons or organizations coming to them proposing to help realize their objectives.  If the peace option that was genuinely proposed and pushed by the international community hoping Nigeria will play a mediating role can be manipulated to abduct the President and members of the interim government, the armed option that some have been forced by necessity and self defence needs of our people to embrace, can equally be manipulated to abduct or harm leaders of the organizations that are firmly committed to that option. French Cameroun indeed used the same strategy under different circumstances to drug and abduct Captain Guerandi Mbara with the complicity and treachery of some of his own people he hoped to liberate, and he disappeared ever since.

French Cameroon special intelligence bankrolled and overseen by Martin Belinga aided by the French Cameroons conventional intelligence units under Eko Eko the director general of the external research directorate and husband of the President of the Military Court-martial trying our abductees will send out paid agents from all sorts of organizations to reach out to some of the leaders of the composing organizations who if care is not taken, may end up the way Captain Guerandi Mbara ended.   The defence of our homeland is a task that must be done. Cameroon Concord News Group supports collective efforts towards the realization of that sacred objective. The reboot conference organizers should as a matter of extreme urgency meet with the Acting President and the interim government to discuss better ways of attaining the unity required to mobilize all Ambazonians home and abroad towards the realization of our self-defence objectives and the total freedom of our fatherland. The freedom of our President, members of the interim government, Mancho Bibixy and thousands of our abductees and the total liberation our free Ambazonia homeland must be attained at all costs.

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai

Chairman, Editor-in-Chief

Cameroon Concord News Group

The statement in the Vanguard captioned “Nigeria pledges support to Cameroon over secession threat” dated 6 February 2018 if true, is the first statement made on behalf of President Mohammadu Buhari and the Federal Government of Nigeria admitting responsibility for the abduction and rendition to French Cameroun of the President and members of the Interim Government of the Federal Repuiblic of Ambazonia since the 5th of January 2018. This statement has profound consequences for Nigeria, President Buhari and elements of his government complicit in these crimes.

In its historical perspective, more than fifty years, ago, Buhari was a participant in the genocide that claimed more than three million Biafran lives. His endorsement of the genocide and the ideological motivation for the genocide against Southern Cameroons/Ambazonia by French Cameroun through his National Security Adviser, Babagana Monguna may therefore not be surprising.

Since President Buhari came to power, he has selectively activated his genocidal instincts to fulfill his political, ethnic and pecuniary interests.  While in the opposition to the government of President Good Luck Jonathan, he opposed the prosecution of the war against Boko Haram claiming then that it targeted the Northern Youth based on their ethnic and religious identity. With support from the circumstantially politically unreliable Yoruba politicians to the West, gullible corrupt political merchants in the South/South and in the Middle Belt he rode on his political Islamic support base of which Boko Haram is its militant vanguards to power.

Once in power he adopted an ambivalent policy towards the war against Boko Haram with whom he has maintained a clandestine fig leave of support while prosecuting the war against them. On occasion, he negotiated and released some members of Boko Haram and subtly deployed others in the guise of Fulani Herdsmen to kill and maim in the Middle belt, the East, South/South, Middle East and the West with impunity.  He has opposed dialogue with the Biafrans who unlike Boko Haram with whom he has been dialoguing, have not declared war against the Federation.  He has subverted the amnesty deal that Good Luck Jonathan negotiated with the Niger Delta militants and turned a blind eye to the systematic massacres of armless civilians in Bakassi and other frontier communities by Cameroun Gendarmes. In context therefore, the statement endorsing the genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes against Southern Cameroons by French Cameroons, does not come as a surprise.

The statement for the first time provides attempts to justify the unprecedented criminal act of abduction which is better associated with Boko Haram as intended to assist the government of French Cameroun to safeguard its territorial integrity.  The purpose for violating international law through an blatant act of international criminality to assist a genocidal reason committing international crimes which even France its colonial master has condemned places Nigeria as a conspirator in the crimes.  Prior to the admission, the Federal Government kept sealed lips and refused to acknowledge the abductions or admit orchestrating the crime.  With the admission of the crime and the endorsement and support of the genocide and international crimes against the Southern Cameroons/ Ambazonia, the Federal Government of Nigeria is the first government in the entire universe to admit its participation in the international violations and crimes against Ambazonia. Buhari has not demonstrated a Nigeria national interest need to justify commission of the crimes Nigeria has admitted to committing or to justify its support and complicity in the crimes perpetrated against Southern Cameroons. The Buhari administration has joined the crime cartel abducting and slaughtering hundreds of thousands of Southern Cameroons civilians for purely pecuniary interests. This is tantamount to sourcing for money through criminal means to finance his reelection efforts and that of his Vice President. The Boko Haram approach to accessing international crimes cartels like the government of French Cameroun to source and launder money to safeguard its threatened hold on power espouses the hypocrisy of his commitment to fight corruption in Nigeria.

With this admission, President Buhari, Vice President Yemi Osibanjo and the National Security Adviser Babagama Monguna hence bear individual criminal responsibility for the crimes of abduction, money laundering and complicity in the international crimes perpetrated against the Southern Cameroons. By relying on Babagama Monguna, the foot soldier that he and his Vice President relied on to conduct the entire operation including the negotiation and concealment of the colossal amounts paid for the criminal operation, Mr Buhari intended to keep the operation and its proceeds within his inner circle.

The alleged statement of Babagama Monguna places President Buhari and some of his close associates at the centre of the planning and execution of the crime. The fact that Buhari delegated Babagana Monguno, the alleged mastermind of the operation to deliver this statement on his behalf and not a cabinet member or a plenipotentiary member of the diplomatic corps is significant in some ways. It raises critical questions about the state of cohesion within the government of Nigeria on the matter and the possible frictions between the co-conspiring members of the crime cartel involved in the criminal enterprise in both government of Nigeria and French Cameroun.

It appears embarrassing and even surprising for the President of Nigeria to be represented in a supposed bilateral security meeting supposedly held in Nigeria by a national security adviser and not a cabinet level representative. It is doubtful that statements made by the national adviser can have the force of a binding international commitment on behalf of the people of Nigeria.  In his capacity as a corrupt mastermind of the abduction, the national security adviser might have deliver a message on his on his own behalf and that of the President as the General Overseer of the criminal operation.  There would be no constitutional basis in a genuine democracy for such a delegation of authority to a security operative to make commitments of an international nature with profound international, legal and diplomatic consequences. Diplomatic practice requires that such commitments can only be made by mandate holders recognized as such in international law.

That this individual represented the Federation or was mandated to deliver these statements to supposed delegates and representatives of French Cameroun in a supposed security meeting held in Nigeria carries with it serious diplomatic ramifications. This appeared to have been an open manifestation of a chaotic management of a criminal deal which exploded in the market place of international and national scrutiny.  This appears to have foreshadowed the nervousness, confusion and disagreement within a government    totally embarrassed by the international outcry over the criminal violations of international law by Nigeria and the exposure of the underlying corruption surrounding the violations.

There are reasons why persons involved in this crime, no matter their status will be held responsible for their role in these international crimes. The international focus on Nigeria and French Cameroun by several international judicial accountability mechanisms will force the crime cartels present in the governments of both countries to account for their crimes. The moment is soon coming when they will know the clear limits to impunity, reckless corruption and abuse of political power.                                                                                                                                                                                                      

Cameroon Concord News has critically examined the impugned statement.  Apart from being a statement endorsing the genocide against Federation of Ambazonia and admitting that Nigerian security operatives on his orders committed the crime of  abduction,  it’s contains no comprehensive information  relating to the exact whereabouts of His Excellency Sisiku Ayuk Tabe and members of the Interim Government of Ambazonia.  Cameroon Concord News News critically observes that the unspecified cooperation basis for which Nigeria committed this crime appears to be but a mere euphemism for the unprecedented corruption that informed the criminal conduct of President Buhari, his Vice President, his National Security Adviser and his close associates. The deployment of his security adviser and not the Vice President, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, the Attorney-General of the Federal or a Cabinet level Minister, to make statements of a legal and diplomatic nature on behalf of the President to representatives of an alien sovereign evokes the possibility of serious disagreement within the Buhari government about the legality and secretive nature of the abductions and high level corruption involved in the operation.  The violations of national and international law with profound consequences may also have alarmed many members of government who might not have been aware of the criminal corrupt deal but are required by the beneficiaries to deal with the consequences.

Babagana Munguno’s statement is an admission on behalf of President Buhari that Nigeria abducted Southern Cameroons leaders who were legally in Nigeria under the protection of International law. Statements by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees and the United States State Department alleging and condemning the violations of international law by Nigeria signifies that the consequences for this violation will follow. The statement admitting the abductions and the endorsement of international violations committed against the Southern Cameroons, the support to French Cameroun to realize it’s stated goals genocidal goals of preserving the unity of its territory through criminal means; genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes bring Nigeria and French Cameroun within the radar of the International Criminal Court (ICC) which fortunately has been conducting a preliminary examination in Nigeria since the 18 November 2010. The Babagana Monguno admission brings into focus following crimes falling within the jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court where Nigeria is a state party:  Genocide (article 6), Crime Against Humanity Article 7 (e) Imprisonment or other deprivation of physical liberty in violation of fundamental rules of international law. 7(i) Enforced disappearance of persons, Article 7(k) Other inhumane acts of a similar character intentionally causing great suffering or serious injury to body or to mental and physical health. Article 8 (vii) Unlawful deportation or transfer or unlawful confinement.

Although French Cameroun signed but did not ratify the Rome Statute, the officially announced participation of Nigeria in these crimes must be considered within the context of the ongoing preliminary examination in Nigeria targeting the Nigerian Military and Security Agencies which the security operatives who participated in these international violations form part.  Through its admitted criminal conduct, Nigeria may have provided the required jurisdictional basis for the ICC to examine the crimes committed by French Cameroon against Southern Cameroon/Ambazonia in which Nigeria is an admitted and willing participant.  In this regard therefore, members of the Nigeria government who participated in perpetration of these crimes and the violation of international law cannot and will not hide behind the shield of national security or sovereignty to conceal their participation is crimes that have shock the conscience of humanity.

If the criminals who have violated international law and perpetrated these crimes are not held to account for their crimes, then the protection afforded humanity by international law will be held in contempt and the abduction and trade in human beings to satisfy the corrupt pecuniary interests of corrupt power merchants will encourage impunity.  Nigeria must not be allowed to become a laboratory for whitewashing Boko Haram criminal tactics and deploying them to security operations in total disregard the international rule of law.

For these reasons, Cameroon Concord News Group strongly holds that the responsibility to produce and free the President of the Federal Republic of Ambazonia and members of his government lies with Nigeria. Whether they are in French Cameroun or still held in Nigeria as it may well be the case, they are held at the pleasure of the Federal Government of Nigeria.  Nigeria must be held accountable for whatever happens to them.  Cameroon Concord News Group strongly urges the ICC which has been conducting a preliminary examination in Nigeria since 2010 to exercise its jurisdiction on the crimes of the abduction of the Southern Cameroons leaders who were legally in Nigeria under the protection of International law. The crime in which they were abducted and disappeared falls within the jurisdiction of the ICC. Cameroon Concord News Group strongly urges international human rights organizations, Ambazonians the world over and Nigerian of good will to submit petitions to the ICC to extend its ongoing preliminary examination in Nigeria to cover this crime of abduction and complicity in the international crimes coming within the statute of the ICC committed against Southern Cameroons/ Ambazonia.

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai

Chairman and Editor-in-Chief

Cameroon Concord News Group

Cameroon Concord News Group strongly supports the Interim Government of the Federal Republic of Ambazonia. Cameroon Concord News urges Nigeria and French Cameroun to free our leaders held in captivity and all Ambazonian captives in their dungeons with immediate effect; failing which they will bear the consequences of the conflagration caused by their reckless and illegal conduct.

Although Nigeria has declined to make a public admission of its abduction of Ambazonian leaders who were legally within its territory under the protection of international law, French Cameroun in its published admission of the crime, incriminated Nigeria in the crime. French Cameroun confessed that the impugned criminal conduct was in furtherance of cooperation agreements it had with Nigeria which they relied on the perpetration of the abduction and rendition of our leaders, and in furtherance and support of French Cameroun’s genocide of Southern Cameroons/ Ambazonia.

Cameroon Concord News can confirm that Nigeria’s support of French Cameroun’s war efforts, crimes against humanity and genocide against Southern Cameroons/ Ambazonia goes far beyond the abduction and rendition of our leaders to the French Cameroun’s terrorist regime. Apart from information at our disposal, French Cameroon has by its actions and public statements provide a reasonable basis for Cameroon Concord News Group to conclude that this allegation has merit.

Within a month, Paul Biya paid two visits to the President of Nigeria. Subsequently, French Cameroun’s Minister for Territorial Administration a certain Rene  Sadi was received by the Vice President of Nigeria Professor Osinbanjo and the Nigeria Ambassador was received by Paul Biya. This is a deal wrapped in one of the most scandalous corruption deals in history whose details will emerge with time although there are sufficient indices to conclude that it took the intervention of France for the final deal to be sealed. It is no wonder that the visit by the French Ambassador in Abuja to the Nigerian Foreign Minister shortly after the abduction carried symbolic weight.  The poor Minister who like the Attorney General of the Federation and the Inspector General of the Police although aware of the abduction were kept out of the loop because the pecuniary interests of the inner circle of the corrupt circle of power around the President controlled the process, provided a cursory statement relating to the abduction in troubling language signifying his apparent distaste for the prurient criminality surrounding it. He did not know how to characterize it. Was it an arrest? And invitation for investigation? And abduction? That equivocal response provided by the Minister cast a slur on the soul of the Nigerian Government on whose head the blood of Southern Cameroons leaders and its people arising from this crime and more must lie.

The international crimes and violations committed by French Cameroun against Southern Cameroons go back as far and fifty-seven years.  On 19/9/63, French Cameroon signed the Geneva Conventions 1949 on the protection of civilians in armed conflicts 1949.  It signed the Convention on Statutory Limitations to War Crimes 1968 on 6/10/72 and the Convention for the Protection of all Persons from Enforced Disappearance, 2006 on 6/2/2007.

French Cameroon signed an agreement of friendship and cooperation on February 6, 1963 and on the 27 March 1972 Nigeria and French Cameroon signed a Mutual Agreement regulating relations between the two countries.

French Cameroun signed the Rome Statute creating the ICC on 17 July 1998 but took no further action to ratify the treaty. However, Nigeria ratified the treaty on the 27 September 2001 as a result became a state party to the Rome to the Statute. By its willing participation in the crimes coming before the Rome Statute by French Cameroun against Ambazonia, part of which have been jointly committed within the territory of Nigeria, the International Criminal Court has jurisdiction over these crimes.

French Cameroun has justified the abduction and rendition of Southern Cameroons leaders who were lawfully in the territory of Nigeria under the protection of international law to French Cameroon on alleged cooperation agreements it signed with Nigeria in 1963 and in 1972. French Cameroun characterized these agreements as the foundational judicial basis for abduction and rendition. The purported agreements do not qualify as treaties under the Vienna Convention of the Law of Treaties 1969.  They are not extradition treaties as such for an extradition request to be valid.  For an extradition request to be valid and considered, it must conform to the norms of international law and must be submitted to a judicial process within the territory of the country to which the request is submitted.  Cameroon Concord is not aware of any judicial process that was initiated in Nigeria to justify the rendition of Southern/ Cameroons captives to French Cameroun to face a court-martial and potential death sentence.

Even if the agreements put forward by French Cameroun to justify the terrorist style abduction of Ambazonian leaders and rendition to French Cameroun were to be construed as valid, rendition under the spurious agreements would still be circumscribed by the treaty obligations of French Cameroun under the Geneva Conventions 1949, Convention on Statutory Limitations on War Crimes and the Convention for the protection of Persons from Enforced Disappearances 2006. Nigeria was barred from the Rome Statute from engaging in the criminal acts of abduction and aiding and abating genocide, enforced disappearances, crimes against humanity and war crimes against Ambazonia within its national territory and in the territory of Ambazonia.  There have been credible allegations that French Cameroons soldiers and gendarmes crossed into Nigerian territory to abduct and massacre Southern Cameroonians and Nigerian civilians in Cross River State, and Akwa Ibom State of Nigeria. These crimes coming within the jurisdiction of the Rome Statute but Nigeria in complicity with French Cameroun has allowed these criminal acts to continue unrestrained. Nigeria has not provided adequate protection to these persons at risk within its national territory.

There is a pecuniary motivation for the criminal conduct of decision makers within the Nigerian Government. This motivation facilitated the perpetration of international crimes for which they and their co-conspirators in French Cameroun bear criminal responsibility. It is troubling that the international community is slow to intervene to investigate, prosecute and punish members of the criminal cartel in the hands of whom it has entrusted the prosecution of the war against Boko Haram which they are the main sponsors and beneficiaries.  This misplaced trust has blinded them from intervening with the urgency it requires to abate the ongoing genocide against Southern Cameroons and other international crimes.  The warning alarm raised by the Catholic Bishops of the Bamenda Ecclesiastical Province, African Bar Association and lately the very poignant ultimatum given by the Communication Secretary of the Interim Government of Ambazonia Chris Anu to Nigeria and French Cameroun to produce our leaders by the dateline of Monday February 5, or face an energetic response making that which was make by the survivors of the Rwandan Genocide a child’s play must be taken seriously, and urgently too.  Cameroon Concord News applauds the Interim Government for providing the window of opportunity for Nigeria and French Cameroun to abide by the International Rule of Law and release our leaders and abate the crimes in Ambazonia.

Cameroon Concord News calls on citizens of the Federal Republic of Ambazonia to stand resolutely by our Interim Government and to staunchly defend our territory and our leaders in captivity.  Our President Sisiku Ayuk Tabe stated that no one is above the revolution and the freedom of Ambazonia. His abduction should rally all Ambazonians around the Interim Government to free our leaders and all abductees in French Cameroun’s dungeons.  As we prosecute this revolution, let us not forget the fact that we shall prevail. In our moment of victory, our president and abducted leaders and all our abductees will be with us but Paul Biya, and his Nigerian co-conspirators will not be there to enslave us anymore.

Cameroon Concord News Group wishes to take this opportunity to caution and advise our people to not fall into the trap of the enemies through their agents in our midst.  Cameroon Concord News Group with its cream of intelligence officers serving with Cameroon Intelligence Report has carefully investigated the spurious allegations made against Mr Millan Atam as the person who betrayed our Interim leaders and found them to be false. If anything, it is part of the efforts deployed by French Cameroun and its co-conspirators to undermine the Interim Government and destroy the revolution and our unstoppable quest for freedom.

It is troubling that the persons peddling these allegations have made or done things which fit the agenda aimed at destroying or distracting the Interim Government from its stated efforts of securing the release of our leaders and the freedom of our land.  Cameroon Concord News has carefully listened to, analyzed and investigated audios and statements made by key members of the gang of individuals wrongly accusing Millan Atam in efforts to deflect attention from their culpable and treacherous conduct.  The Southern Cameroons Radio Television which Millan Atam hold in trust for Ambazonia and which is one remarkable symbol of our sovereignty and communication with our people and the world at large is a great source of worry to French Cameroun.  Millan Atam is therefore one of French Cameroun’s staunchest enemies.  Efforts deployed to prevent the broadcast to our people have failed. Had he been abducted in Nigeria, that crucial tool of communication would have been eliminated.  Cameroon Concord News Group has investigated his travel itinerary and found it to accord with his narrative. Efforts by the messengers of doom who had made public statements predicting the abduction of our President before it occurred to trace his where about while in Nigeria so that he too be abducted failed leading to panic in their camp.  Millan Atam’s presence in Nigeria was God sent because he was the one who immediately alerted our lawyers and set in motion the mobilization of the Interim Government to step in and move the revolution on while fighting to free our leaders.

In a last-ditch attempt to scuttle the Interim Government, the same persons floated the idea of disbanding the Interim Government, electing a new government and above all they are relaunching the reboot conference in Washington DC to enable them take over power while the President is in the cruel dungeon of French Cameroun. The question has been asked by Mr Mbah John Akuru why Millan Atam arrived late for the meeting.  Back to sender.  Why did he who is a member of the Interim Government and residing in Nigeria not attend the meeting? Where did he get all the facts with which he announced the execution of the President and our leaders? Was his intention to prepare Ambazonians for such an eventuality or was it aimed at sowing confusion and justifying the takeover of the revolution by proxies of French Cameroun and their allies within the Nigerian Government?  Chris Anu the communication Secretary went to Nigeria with his American passport and took credible initiatives for the protection and defence aimed at securing the release of our leaders. He granted received press interviews. He mobilized international awareness of the abductions and about our case. Nigeria hoped that the abduction and the rendition would scare Ambazonians not to venture into Nigeria and hold it accountable for her role in this international crime. Chris Anu braved the odds and went there and jumpstarted the battle for the release of our leaders.  Additionally, he has lately issued a strong ultimatum to French Cameroun to show proof of the existence of our leaders.

In the face of published statements aimed at preparing the minds of our people towards the potential execution of our people, the Interim Government rightly acted to save their lives and make sure a plan to fail and there are indications that such a wicked ploy for which our minds were being prepared has failed.  That is one victory on the part of our Interim Government. However, persons who were complicit in making publications aimed at facilitating such an eventuality and who have never strongly joined the Catholic Bishops, President Sisiku Ayuk Tabe, the Interim Government  through its Communication Secretary Chris Anu, the Southern Cameroons television under the mandate of Millan Atam, activists like Mark Barata, Tapang Ivo and many others in denouncing the genocide in Ambazonia, or have never visited the refugees or contributed to their well being, suddenly commenced a timid attack against this much applauded ultimatum. If that ultimatum is a precursor of a bold response to the genocide and crimes committed in Ambazonia from now hence by the Interim Government, then we in Cameroon Concord News Group will stand resolutely behind our Interim Government. We call our people to ignore all distractions and redouble all efforts to free our leaders and all our abductees held by French Cameroun. We must free our land and people from the bondage of slavery and colonial rule to which we have been subjected for the past fifty-six years.

Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai

Chairman and Editor-in-Chief

Cameroon Concord News Group

RFI

The Southern Cameroons crisis that has split the country and put the country on a downward economic and political spiral is gradually destroying the country’s military. According to our source in the military, there is growing disgruntlement within the military, especially among Anglophones who are not happy with what is being done to fellow Anglophones in the two English-speaking regions of the country.

According to our source, money is very likely to cause huge cracks on the military’s wall. Top military officials are, according to our source, taking advantage of the military actions that are currently playing out in the South West region. It is being rumored that the defense minister, Joseph Beti Assomo, and his friends are robbing the country blind. While the foot soldiers are being killed in the South West region, the generals and government officials are making hay while the sun shines.

It is alleged that Mr. Assomo is now taking financial decisions without following national procurement rules. He claims that the country is at war and if processes and procedures have to be followed, the president’s decision to eradicate the separatists will not be implemented to the letter. Many observers hold that the war could just be an excuse for some government officials to implement their personal agenda and this is causing many foot soldiers to question the rationale behind the killing of innocent civilians and the burning of their homes.

Our source further adds that even among the rank and file, there is a lot of frustration. Most of the government soldiers claim that they are not properly paid and that the risk of having to fight those tough “Ambazonian Tigers” was causing many of them to develop mental issues. Many are sleep deprived, especially those who have witnessed the killing of their colleagues, our source add. He intimated that the soldiers whose duty posts are in the South West region are not being paid per diem, but those coming from Yaoundé are entitled to huge per diems and this is gradually destroying the unity the military needs to prosecute the war.

Our source stressed that the soldiers who are permanently resident in the South West region are now helping Anglophone fighters who are known for their toughness. It is alleged that in Mamfe, the “Odeshi boys”, the fighters who have killed close to two hundred army soldiers have been aided and abetted by government troops who are not satisfied with their financial arrangements.

It is alleged that some government troops have been informing the fighters of troop movement and this accounts for the heavy casualty that government troops have taken over the last two months, especially in the Manyu jungle that has been a tough terrain for most army soldiers.

Meanwhile, discussions between arrested Anglophone leaders and government officials are continuing in the Nigerian capital, Abuja, despite the numerous hitches deriving from differences of opinion. The Cameroon government delegation, led by Mr. Rene Said, the country’s territorial administration minister, is still trying to sell its decentralization policy that is being rejected by Ambazonian leaders. The arrested leaders argue that the decentralization policy is enshrined in the country’s constitution, but for over twenty-two years, it has not been implemented and this, in their opinion, makes it hard to trust any word from the government.

According to our source which elected anonymity, Mr. Rene Sadi has threatened on many occasions to quit the negotiations as Ambazonian leaders keep on arguing that their objective was to get the government of Cameroon to discuss divorce issues. Some of those divorce issues include, debt-sharing, oil revenue, general amnesty and the peaceful return of refugees to the Federal Republic of Ambazonia; things that are not sitting well with the Cameroon delegation at the negotiations.

The Ambazonian President, Julius Ayuk Tabe, for his part, is insisting that it will be hard working with the government of Cameroon that is wont to deceit, intimidation and corruption. He argues that the concentration of power in the hands of one man in Cameroon is responsible for all the issues Anglophones have faced in Cameroon. He insists that it will be hard for the Francophone leadership to understand that centralization has only bred corruption and intimidation. He points to the general malaise in the country as evidence of the negative effects of centralization. He argues that Mr. Biya and his people have pauperized Cameroonians and their love for power and control has rolled back the country by at least five decades.

While the negotiations are not producing any meaningful results, both sides are at least talking and agreeing that the fighting was not necessary, as many lives have been lost. UN and Nigerian negotiators, for their part, are asking both parties to meet each other halfway. Both the UN and Nigeria have very little appetite for separation, but are hugely in favor of a federal structure that will bring powers to the regions, while reducing the red tape that has been the hallmark of the centralized system that has been the bane of people’s lives in Cameroon.

It should be recalled that the Southern Cameroons crisis started in October 2016 with calls from lawyers and teachers for better working conditions. But the government’s brutal reaction to these peaceful calls only made matters worse, especially when the Anglophone Diaspora jumped into the fray following the arrest of the leasers and the banning of the Anglophone Consortium that was negotiating with government officials.

By Kingsley Betek

West Africa Bureau Chief (Abuja, Nigeria)

Cameroon Concord News Group