Of the five African heads of state invited by the 88-year old President Paul Biya for the opening ceremony of the Africa Cup of Nations, only Azali Assoumani of the Union of Comoros showed up. Francophone African leaders including President Roch Marc Kabore of Burkina Faso and Macky Sall of Senegal pressured by Paris to make the trip to Yaoundé were conspicuous by their absence from the gathering of world football leaders.

A highly placed Cameroon government official who spoke to our Yaoundé City reporter late on Tuesday on grounds that he should not be identified said everyone at the presidency of the republic regretted that President Kabore of Burkina Faso and Macky Sall of Senegal did not avail themselves of the opportunity to address football issues in Africa. He however added that Biya was indeed the problem “as he never visits other African countries”.  Yaoundé has also expressed disappointment at several African governments’ political decision to not attend the Africa Cup of Nations.

Cameroon Concord News gathered that some of the African administrations have called on Etoudi to reconsider its Southern Cameroons war approach and commit in good faith to live up to its political-economic commitments towards the people of British Southern Cameroons.

By Rita Akana

Cameroon has not hosted the Africa Cup of Nations since the 1972. Optimists hope the goodwill generated by the tournament can be used to foster national unity, with the south west of the country still mired in violence.

After 40 years in power, President Biya is famously not a man fond of public appearances.

But Sunday’s opening ceremony of the 33rd Africa Cup of Nations was taken as an opportunity to be centre-stage – at least briefly. The 88-year-old entered the new stadium that bears his name in a motorcade that lapped the athletics track as he and the first lady, Chantal, waved through the open roof. His speech, when it came, was only a few sentences, a formal declaration of the tournament’s start.

Biya had more to say in his New Year address to the nation 10 days ago, pitching the Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon or CAF) as part of a grand plan for infrastructure development, before calling “on our Beloved Indomitable Lions to do their utmost to ensure that they end this festival in grand style on the evening of 6 February 2022”.

Dose of reality

The optimism was, however, to be contrasted with the heart of the speech focusing on national disunity. “Many of our compatriots remain within the ranks of armed groups”, he warned. “They continue to engage in criminal activities, increasing attacks with improvised explosive devices and murders of unarmed civilians. The recent assassination of three students and a teacher of Bilingual High School Ekondo Titi added to their long list of abuses and atrocities.”

That attack in the Southwest region in November 2021 served as an inconvenient reminder that the five-year “Anglophone crisis” continues without resolution. If hasn’t been enough to undermine Cameroon’s hosting status this time round, memories are still fresh from enduring the humiliation of CAF’s decision in 2018 to strip Yaounde of the tournament and hand duties to Egypt for the summer 2019 edition. Delayed preparations and the “Ambazonia” crisis played a central role.

Politics at bay…for now

This year politics has not altered the itinerary – with Group F’s Tunisia, Mali, Mauritania and Gambia still set to train in the restive south-west regional capital Buea and eight matches to be played in coastal Limbé, where there were reports of an explosion as recently as 5 January and the security presence is heavy. The government will be hoping that a tournament without major incident will buttress the official position that the worst has passed.

If Cameroon make the final at the Paul Biya Stadium on the outskirts of Yaoundé, critics of the $300m facility will still be entitled to rail against the total costs of the tournament. Around $700m has been sunk into stadia and roads but home success at Afcons tends to drown out opposition.

There will have been relief that the Lions recovered from 1-0 down to Burkina Faso on Sunday, taking advantage of two rashly conceded penalties to squeeze home 2-1.

There is genuine excitement

After all, Cameroon has not hosted the tournament since 1972 (when it featured just eight teams in two groups) and have a formidable home record in competitive matches. The recent defeat of Cote d’Ivoire in the battle for World Cup qualification raised expectation further.

In 2017, a young, largely unfancied Lions side beat Senegal, Ghana and, finally, Egypt to lift the country’s 5th Afcon title in dramatic fashion. Aboubakar’s late win in Libreville sealed a tournament that entertained without ever quite hitting great heights. It had political resonance too.

In the week after that win, goalkeeper Fabrice Ondoa expressed solidarity on television with the country’s English-speaking minority. “My brothers, I am from Bamenda. For you, for you,” he said, a Francophone star dedicating the victory to the north-western anglophone city at a time of ongoing repression.

On the downside, the team hasn’t progressed significantly since that title win and exited at the last 16 stage in Egypt the last time out. Defending champions Algeria and an exciting Senegal side are a rank above on current form.

Greatest threat…Covid-19

The greatest threat to the tournament may yet come from Covid-19. CAF, having vigorously resisted calls for postponement, now has to cope with public health concerns, a complex testing regime and, inevitably, missing players.

It may be that things settle down once squads have fully entered the country and remain in their bubbles. But already Senegal has been badly affected, with nine players testing positive – including Chelsea’s Edouard Mendy and Napoli’s Kalidou Koulibaly – just days before their opening game against Zimbabwe on Monday. Gabon, Malawi, Ivory Coast and Tunisia also had preparations disrupted by new cases.

With only 2.5% of the population double-vaccinated, the tournament requirement for fans to prove their status to gain entry to stadiums is being watched closely. According to CAF, “supporters may only enter stadiums if they are fully vaccinated and are able to show a negative PCR test result that is no older than 72 hours or a negative antigen test result no older than 24 hours.” Cameroon’s matches are already restricted to 80% capacity to ease social distancing while all other fixtures are capped at 60%.

Biya’s name may be on the stadium but the popular figurehead for this Afcon will undoubtedly be the new President of the Cameroon football federation, Samuel Eto’o.

The four-time African Footballer of the Year and two-time Afcon winner has staked his reputation on a smooth tournament and a new era for the troubled domestic game. He was at the forefront of resistance to calls for delay at the end of last year and issued a warning to voices from Europe seeking to undermine Afcon’s credibility.

“The federation that I represent will strongly defend the competition,” he said. “The Euros were played in the middle of the pandemic with full stadiums. Why shouldn’t we play?” For all the politics and problems, there is once again no compelling riposte to that question.

Source: The Africa Report

His collaborators have always projected him as the strong man, ordained by God to be eternal not only on earth but also on the throne, but the last years have proven that eternity here on earth is simply a mirage and that no man, including Paul Biya, born of a woman, will ever be physically eternal in a world nobody really understands.

For more than five years now, Cameroon’s president, Paul Biya, has seen his energy waning. Though he seems to believe his own lies that he is still energetic, many events have continued to remind him that time is running out for him.

Cameroonians have seen him struggle to walk and when he dares to walk, he trembles like a 7-month baby who wants to try his luck at walking.

As his energy levels decline, so too do his muscles fall apart and that makes it hard for his clothes to fit him.

Not long ago, his own trousers sought to take French leave of him during an event where there were thousands of guests at the Unity Palace.

The humiliation was huge. His wife, Chantal Biya, who doubles as a live-in care-giver, is permanently on the watch when she is in public with the aging and ailing Biya.

She knows something bizarre might happen anytime as the tired 88-year-old president is gradually losing his mind and his physique, which once gave him the looks of an adonis, is crumbling under the weight of age.

The Unity Palace event wherein his trousers dropped to the floor left Mrs Biya with a pink face. It was a day she wanted to demonstrate that her husband was still alive and strong, but nature had an unpleasant surprise for her and it came in a way she least expected.

Cameroonians who were glued to their TV sets had the ill-luck of seeing Mr. Biya’s colorful pants and his withering legs. Time has a way of diminishing men who think they are indispensable and Mr. Biya has had more than his fair share of humiliation.

But the humiliation is far from over. Since he has opted to stay in the spotlight, he must accept that time will continue to expose him to ridicule.

If he is not sporting a tootless mouth, then know he will show up with a face that has been invaded by age-related scars and it is fair game for his critics to make fun of him, as he has always projected himself as the defiant dictator who will never quit power.

But the greatest humiliation came on January 9, 2022, when the Yaounde strong man finished reading his opening speech at the AfCON 2021 being held in Cameroon.

Things had gone on smoothly until Mr. Biya forgot that though alive, he was not as strong as those around him.

After reading his very short speech, insteading of calling on his guards and nurses to help him take his seat, he proceeded to do things by himself and, of course, he went down like a pack of old and tired cards.

Before his guards could reach out to save him, the old, sick and tired Biya was on the floor struggling to pick himself up.

Nature cannot be cheated. Such an incident was just a nasty reminder to a man who has simply overstayed his welcome and has outlived his usefulness.

Sources close to the president’s entourage said the fall resulted in him urinating, adding that thanks to his thick diapers, he would have left the stadium with a wet trousers.

Many Cameroonians are asking lots of head-breaking questions about Mr. Biya’s health and fitness as a president.

Many think his constant embarrassment of the country in public could be a justification for him to be relieved of his duty,  but will the falling Biya ever leave power?

An observer, who spoke to Cameroon Concord News on condition of anonymity said the dying man might only leave on the day he defecates on his trousers.

“We should not think Biya will relinquish power. Power has gotten into his head like a drug and he clearly thinks that he should die in power,” a source said.

“Things have been made all the more challenging because he has surrounded himself with a bunch of emasculated sycophants who cannot speak truth to power,” the source regretted.

Biya may be putting up a strong man image, but it is clear that he is running out of time. Instead of humiliating himself, his family and country, it will be wise for him to exit through the big door.

However, if he insists on dying in power, he might do so in public during one of those events in which he might want to prove that he is physically strong to rule the country.

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai

With one billion people around the world expected to watch as the African Cup of Nations (CAN) kicks off in Cameroon on 9 January, a spotlight will shine on the country’s five-year-old conflict between the government and Anglophone separatists.

Matches around the country will include eight games in Limbe and Buea, cities in the English-speaking South West region, and Anglophone militias have announced plans to disrupt the Cup, hoping to showcase their grievances. The government has responded with severe restrictions upon movement and association in the Anglophone regions.

This is a lose-lose strategy: separatist attacks during the month-long tournament may diminish the sympathy that Anglophone Cameroonians enjoy in Africa and elsewhere, and the government’s heavy-handed measures could produce popular backlash and escalate the conflict.

A different approach

Instead, both parties should pursue a dramatically different approach: embrace sports diplomacy and cease hostilities for the Cup’s duration. With outside diplomatic support, such a truce could be the first step in rebuilding trust and moving toward talks after years of bloodshed.

Even without the Anglophone militias’ threats, guaranteeing security for the tournament would pose significant challenges for Cameroon. Nine of the country’s ten regions are mired in humanitarian crisis as a result of violent conflict. Jihadist insurgency and climate change-fuelled inter-communal strife between herders and fishermen have destabilised the north, while rebels from the Central African Republic have crossed into the east.

The country’s political situation is also tense, with five senior officials from Francophone opposition leader Maurice Kamto’s party sentenced to seven-year jail terms for holding demonstrations against the president, Paul Biya, in September 2020.

Anglophone conflict ‘poses most serious security problem’

The conflict in the Anglophone regions poses the most serious security problem though. Disturbances began in October 2016, when lawyers and teachers mounted demonstrations calling for a two-state federation to preserve the Anglophone legal and educational systems.

These degenerated into armed conflict following the government’s violent repression, as Anglophones set up separatist militias. Since then, the fighting has killed more than 6,000 people and displaced about one million, ushering in one of the world’s most neglected humanitarian crises amid a deteriorating human rights situation.

Crisis Group and others have repeatedly advocated for talks that might yield a political solution to the conflict. But thus far the government has been unwilling to negotiate in good faith.

It ignored a Swiss dialogue initiative in 2019 that had assembled a dozen separatist groups calling for talks, instead organising its own putative National Dialogue in October of that year. That effort failed to include separatist participation, virtually ensuring it would flop.

As a conciliatory gesture, the government then unilaterally established a special status for the regions, under which it created two regional assemblies with limited powers. This measure fell short of what Anglophones had been demanding and predictably failed to reduce the conflict’s intensity.

Stalemate on both sides

The Anglophone conflict’s escalation in 2021 has not led to a change in either side’s position. Separatists believe they are gaining momentum despite internal divides. The government, for its part, is preparing for a long war, purchasing new military supplies. With neither side clearly ascendant and both reluctant to engage in talks, the conflict has reached a stalemate.

While it would be inconsistent with the separatists’ modus operandi for them to attack venues where the matches are being played, violence could intrude in other ways.

Since 2018, separatist militias have often sought to disrupt sports events in the Anglophone regions:

In January 2021, during another football tournament, the African Nations Championship, militias detonated an explosive device in Limbe, wounding three policemen.

On 21 December, as President Biya met in the capital Yaoundé with Patrick Motsepe, president of the Confederation of African Football, separatist fighters attacked a police checkpoint in Kumba, in the South West, reportedly killing one officer.

In December, clashes between separatist militias and government forces hit Bamenda, Cameroon’s third-largest city.

Tellingly, when a man dressed as the Africa Cup costumed mascot, Mola the lion, toured the city on 16 December, he wore a bulletproof vest and was surrounded by a heavily armed military escort.

‘Propitious moment to seek a truce’

Despite the challenges, the tournament is a propitious moment to seek a truce, under which the parties would pledge to cease hostilities for at least the duration of the Cup and possibly even create the foundation for a new peacemaking effort.

A major diplomatic push by national and international officials will be crucial in the coming days. International actors will need to urgently press the government to reinvigorate the direct channels it developed in 2020 with influential separatist leaders in jail, perhaps underscoring how much it is in Yaoundé’s interests for the games to come off without a hitch. In parallel, Swiss officials could seek to build support for a truce among separatist leaders living overseas and remobilise UN, U.S., British and Canadian backing for their dialogue initiative.

The benefits of even a brief cessation of hostilities would be significant. It would grant the tournament protection while affording humanitarian agencies a chance to deliver critical aid to the thousands endangered by the fighting. It could also help lay the foundation for much-needed peace negotiations and invite near-term measures by the government that might help bring separatists to the table, like the release of Anglophone prisoners being held for non-violent crimes.

Ideally, the separatists would send positive signals of their own by reiterating their commitment to a political solution and making clear their interest in talks.

Whether any of this progress is achievable right now is unclear. Yet the forthcoming tournament presents a rare and welcome opportunity for bringing some creative sports diplomacy to bear on this often overlooked war.

Culled from The Africa Report

Since the Southern Cameroons crisis hit the global stage, Cameroon’s President, Paul Biya, who opted for a military solution, has made fire and brimstone speeches, announcing that the insurgents who have grown in experience and confidence over the last five years, will be rolled back by the country’s military in no time. But each time he delivers his long, meaningless speeches, the situation only gets worse. 

To date, some 10,000 Cameroonian civilians have been killed in a war that was clearly avoidable and some 4,000 army soldiers have been sent to an early grave with close to 2,000 soldiers living with long-term physical disabilities due to the war. 

As for the economy, it has taken a nosedive, with thousands of Cameroonian graduates hitting the pavement in search of jobs. Things are really looking down for the country, especially as corruption and the struggle for power have become the main challenges that seem to herald the end of a long, corrupt and ineffective era. Mr. Biya, the country’s long-serving president, has nothing to show for his 40 years in power. 

He has divided the country, tribalized the army which now operates like his personal militia. Dissenting voices are swiftly taken to the country’s maximum-security prisons and the Diaspora, which is supposed to play a critical part in the country’s development, is instead viewed as the government’s enemy, making it hard for the country’s huge diasporic community to invest in Cameroon. 

Here below are some of his empty threats that have instead been counter-productive since the conflict that has pitted the government against the country’s English-speaking minority erupted. 

Dec. 2018

“If my appeal to warmongers to lay down their weapons remains unheeded, the Defence and Security Forces will be instructed to neutralize them. I am well aware of the distress these rebels are causing the populations of these regions. This situation cannot be allowed to continue.”

Sep. 2019

“Conversely, those who persist in committing criminal acts and violating the laws of the Republic will have to contend with our Defence and Security Forces and will face the full force of those same laws.”

Dec. 2019

“For those who persist in going down the wrong road and continue to use violence, we will have no other choice than to combat them in order to protect all our fellow citizens. Our Defence and Security Forces will, once again, perform their duty with restraint, but without weakness. I wish to reassure them of my full support and high esteem.”

Dec. 2020

“I hail the patriotic spirit of those of our fellow citizens in the North-West and South-West Regions who are not only increasingly cooperating with the Defence and Security Forces, but are also courageously fighting these armed gangs. They have realized that these gangs are not acting in the interest of the people. I would also like to commend here the bravery of our Defence and Security Forces that have not failed in their duty to protect the integrity of the national territory, the people and property. They deserve the respect and consideration of everyone. I encourage them to keep it up and to remain a republican force that respects human rights.”

Dec. 2021

“I would like, once again, to reiterate Government’s firm determination to restore peace in the regions that are under security threats. It should be clearly understood that wherever the perpetrators and sponsors of such acts are hiding, they will be relentlessly tracked down and will face the full force of the law. In this fierce fight against barbarism, I urge the Cameroonian people to step up collaboration with our defence and security forces in order to neutralize the fanatics of armed violence and to preserve the integrity of our territory.”

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai

It will soon be five years since the government of Cameroon made a huge and costly mistake by thinking that all political issues must only be addressed through repression and oppression. It simply did not take a lot of things into consideration and was oblivious of the fact that the dynamics had changed and that a minority in terms of numbers did not imply a minority in terms of courage and determination. 

The lion always thinks it can devour any other animal, but it has always found its match with the Tasmanian devil which is a very small animal that fights back and releases a pungent smell when attacked by the lion. That smell has always kept the lion away and the Tasmanian devil has been enjoying the peace no other animal species enjoy when the lion is around. 

The government must learn from its calamity in the two English-speaking regions of the country which are clearly the Tasmanian devils that have refused to be devoured by a very hungry and desperate lion. Size is not always might and a huge weaponry does not always reflect how formidable an army may be.    

The government’s declaration of war on its English-speaking citizens following the killing of some four gendarme officers in Agborkem German in the country’s Southwest region some five years ago, will go down in history as a faux pas which will haunt the country for a very long time. Thousands have been killed and maimed in a war very much driven by arrogance and ego, and many families will be entering the new year with a lot of pain in their minds.

The war itself was avoidable. There was no justification for a full-blown armed conflict in a country that is still at grips with massive and complicated development issues. Cameroon needs all its citizens to come together to give the country a shot in the arm, but the government does not seem to see things this way. 

The government seems to be caught up in a spiral of ego that may take the country to the bottom of the abyss. Civilian lives are being lost every day and soldiers are losing sleep because of the fear of death in a region that has become a cemetery for the poorly trained Cameroon soldiers whose only reason of joining the military is to earn a salary and help their families. 

The military is losing some of its best equipment to explosive devices that have changed the game in favor of the separatist fighters. The fighters, who started off with machetes and Dane guns, have morphed into major producers of deadly explosives which have brought death and destruction to the military and many families across the country, especially to the South and Center regions, where many young men have been fired up by the false belief that power belongs to them and that they must protect it at all cost, even if it means putting their youthful lives on the line.  

On the economic front, many things have fallen apart, and more are still falling apart as the government continues to sport a tough guy’s appearance. The country’s economy is stuttering, and unemployment is sky-high, causing a lot of frustration and desperation among the youths.

 A war the government thought it would wrap up in two weeks has ended up becoming a millstone around its neck. It is taking up huge financial and human resources which could have been deployed for development purposes.  

Many companies in the conflict areas are struggling and those which shut down operations at the beginning of the war, are yet to resume activities and this is only prolonging the pain of those who used to work for such companies.  

Traveling within the war zone is very demanding both mentally and financially. Passengers are permanently on edge as soldiers could open fire at any time. The war has turned army soldiers into monsters and shooting a civilian is no longer an issue to the soldiers who are supposed to be protecting civilians. The war itself has become an enterprise to the soldiers who are making hay while the sun shines and the war economy is growing by leaps and bounds. 

Truth be told, separatist fighters are no saints in this regard. Their atrocities have transformed them into monsters, far from the saints they were at the beginning of the crisis. They are now dreaded by the population which is clearly showing signs of war fatigue as separatist leaders abroad squabble over money. They cannot contain their bloated egos, and this is putting many fighters on the ground at risk. Many people in the country’s two English-speaking regions hold that the fighters are as dangerous as army soldiers, and this has left them in a bind. 

The population cannot betray the fighters for fear of reprisals, but they cannot also see the soldiers as protectors because the military is replete with rogues and rascals whose only concern is how to make money. Army soldiers are supposed to be winning hearts and minds as a way of bringing the war to an end, but their activities on the ground have made them to come down the people’s estimation. Many of them are reckless. They are alcohol-inflamed, sex-starved and trigger-happy.  It is hard to trust a human being who is the epitome of negativity. 

Intolerance has become the order of the day in Cameroon’s two English-speaking regions. Soldiers are not friendly, and they resort to under-the-belt methods to make money off the impoverished population. Today, there are thousands of young English-speaking Cameroonians languishing in jails in Yaounde and Douala just because they could not afford what army soldiers are asking them to pay. A military without a conscience is a danger onto its own people and this is exactly what is playing out in Cameroon’s two English-speaking regions. 

After five years of chaos, it is time for both parties to reflect on their actions. The government must change its strategy if its objective is to keep the country one and indivisible. The reckless killing of civilians by soldiers only underscores the fact that the English-speaking minority cannot live in peace with its neighbors who have embraced violence and chaos as the only way of addressing differences. Cameroon can be indivisible, but it can also be fundamentally federal. Both parties must meet each other halfway, as it is increasingly emerging that a military victory is not possible.

The government must use the various peace and negotiation frameworks available to it to bring back peace to a country which was once considered as an oasis of peace in a desert of destructive conflicts. The government must work through the Coalition for Dialogue and Negotiations (CDN) which offers a better framework for talks to bring the various factions to a common agreement so that a ceasefire can be declared. 

Military action alone will not address any issues and getting more repressive only drives the fighters to more extreme views. The government has many avenues available to it to start frank and fruitful negotiations with its English-speaking minority. Sisiku Julius Ayuk Tabe and the others captured in Nigeria almost three years ago are the people who can conveniently help to set the tone for real discussions.

The madness has lasted for too long and it is time for common-sense and wisdom to prevail. War has never addressed any issues. On the contrary, it generates more issues and makes existing problems more complicated. 

Cameroonian leaders must take a long and hard look at their ways. Their ways are responsible for the mess that has resulted in the deaths of many young Cameroonians, and this has given the country a very bad name while making life terribly challenging for many citizens of the country.

 Common-sense may be sense that may not be common, but it is available in Cameroon and there are many people around the world who have it and are willing to put that at the service of a country that is tearing itself apart.

After close to five years of fighting where the English-speaking part of the country has been transformed into a massive killing field, the Yaounde government, just like the fighters, must understand that a military solution to the issues is an impossibility. They must listen to wise counsel and should understand that there is no prize for killing each other. But will wisdom be given a chance to prevail? 

By Joachim Arrey, Ph.D

The Vice President of the Ambazonia Interim Government, Dabney Yerima has brushed aside the much talk about French Cameroun military solution to the five year-long conflict in Southern Cameroons as an illusion. The exiled Southern Cameroons leader stated in an interview with Cameroon Intelligence Report late on Monday that the two independent Cameroons are locked in a strategic stalemate on the ground for the past five years.

Dabney Yerima told CIR’s correspondent in Holland that it is time for the new generation of La Republique du Cameroun political elites to come to the negotiating table for the two nations to discuss the terms of separation.

Yerima furthered that Southern Cameroonians were not expecting miracles or quick solutions and pointed out that the path forward will be necessarily incremental. But he noted that 2022 will witness the departure of the 88-year old French Cameroun dictator, Paul Biya and with a new leader in Yaoundé, the Ambazonia Interim Government and its jailed leaders will be able to work on concrete steps towards a satisfactory divorce package.

The Southern Cameroons revolutionary figure highlighted that the lingering atrocities currently being committed by the Francophone dominated Cameroon government military and self defense operations by Ambazonia Revolutionary Guards are making it increasingly clear that Biya and Yaoundé cannot determine the outcome of the Southern Cameroons war of liberation, and that a military solution remains an illusion.

Dabney Yerima stated that he remains actively engaged with other Southern Cameroons restoration groups in order to develop a unified front against the enemies of the Federal Republic of Ambazonia.

The Vice President of the Southern Cameroons Interim Government underscored that it is important for restoration groups to move away from empty social media propaganda on face book, Whatsapp and YouTube and commit to the liberation struggle.

By Isong Asu with files from Den Hague

The U.S. Senate confirmed Christopher John Lamora’s appointment on Saturday. His was one of dozens of Democratic president Joe Biden’s ambassador nominations that had been stalled since last spring by powerful dissident Republican senator Ted Cruz, who wants the United States to apply increased pressure against the opening of a natural gas pipeline from Russia to Germany.

More than three dozen ambassador nominations were approved Saturday, including ambassadors to Japan, the European Union, Ireland, Spain, Vietnam, Somalia and Bahrain. That action came after a vote on Cruz’s pipeline bill was scheduled for next month.

When Lamora’s nomination was announced last April, prominent Cameroonian LGBTQ rights attorney Alice Nkom welcomed it.

“Incredible Joe Biden. We love you! ” she said. “Welcome, Ambassador Christopher Lamora! Welcome to Cameroon, land of tolerance, hospitality and brotherhood! ”

Despite her words, Cameroon remains intolerant of LGBTQ people. By law, homosexual activity is punishable by up to five years in prison. Shakiro, an online trans celebrity, and her partner were sentenced to five years in May.  With Nkom’s help, they were released in July, pending an appeal.

After Lamora’s nomination was announced, Catholic priest Etienne Bakaba of Douala, Cameroon, urged the Cameroonian government to reject Lamora.

“In 2015, the Pope refused a gay ambassador to the Vatican. Shouldn’t the Cameroonian state refuse the accreditation of the gay ambassador that Joe Biden is sending us? As a reminder, homosexuality is a crime according to Cameroonian law, the divine natural law,” Bakaba stated.

Lamora, who openly acknowledges his sexual orientation, appeared before a Senate committee in June and thanked his husband, Eric, for supporting him.

He described himself at a 2019 Gay Pride event in Ghana as “a proud member of the worldwide LGBT community.”

Source: 76 Crimes

Mandatory voting, lowering the security deposit and modifying the Electoral Council’s composition… We list out the main points of the reform project that the opposition was prevented by police from presenting on 24 November as planned.

The show of force had an unexpected effect. On 24 November, police and gendarmes were deployed in large numbers in front of the Hilton Hotel in Yaoundé, where the opposition was due to officially present its draft reform of the electoral code.

The organisers had no choice but to postpone the event at the last minute, so the guests had to leave. Even so, against all odds, the police’s muscular intervention put the initiative back in the spotlight. Launched by seven political parties last March, it seemed to have disappeared from the radar.

What does this 231-page document, which the opposition is now distributing to all public officials and diplomats in Yaoundé, contain? According to the technical secretariat that contributed to it, 15 political parties, 12 civil society organisations and about 50 citizens responded to the call for contributions that was launched.

The proposals, which mainly concern the electoral code’s provisions that require some modifications, were analysed, excluding those that could require the Constitution to be revised. “This is the minimum acceptable for the elections to take place smoothly,” say the members of the opposition.

The standard and the unexpected

Some of these proposals are fairly standard: introducing a single ballot paper; lengthening the duration of electoral campaigns (30 days instead of 15); lowering the security deposit required for legislative elections (from 3m CFA francs ($5,165) to 500,000 CFA francs per candidate) and municipal (from 50,000 CFA francs to 25,000 CFA francs); and prohibiting polling stations from being set up in barracks or chieftaincies.

THE RACE TO TRANSFORM

Others are more surprising, such as making voting compulsory. This would complement Article 2 of the electoral law, which currently stipulates that the election is by universal, equal and secret suffrage, and that it can be direct or indirect. The measure aims to reduce the abstention rates observed in recent elections. During the last local elections in February 2020, turnout was just over 40%.

The opposition has fear and doubts regarding the neutrality, representativeness and independence of the Electoral Council.

To remedy this, it has proposed that the 18-member body be composed – in future – of eight representatives from parties sitting in the Assembly; three representatives from parties only present in municipal councils; three figures from the three parties whose candidates emerged top during the last presidential election; two representatives from the administration that were chosen by the president of the Republic who have had no political affiliation for at least three years; and two members of the civil society.

The minutes from the 2018 presidential election proved to be a stumbling block while the case was being examined before the Constitutional Council. In general, the authenticity of the documents transmitted to the Commission Nationale de Recensement des Votes was often questioned.

The opposition therefore proposed establishment of a communal commission that will be responsible for supervising votes, ensuring the conformity of the minutes and be above the departmental commission. The objective is to reduce the risk of litigation at the national level. The same document adds that all the minutes should have the same legal value, but that today, only the Elecam’s PV is valid in case of dispute.

Another proposed change – which would amend Articles 133, 168 and 194 of the electoral code – is that post-election disputes be examined after the provisional results have been announced. Therefore, the body would only be able to proclaim an election’s final results once the Constitutional Council settles any possible post-election disputes.

Source: The Africa Report

Mandatory voting, lowering the security deposit and modifying the Electoral Council’s composition… We list out the main points of the reform project that the opposition was prevented by police from presenting on 24 November as planned.

The show of force had an unexpected effect. On 24 November, police and gendarmes were deployed in large numbers in front of the Hilton Hotel in Yaoundé, where the opposition was due to officially present its draft reform of the electoral code.

The organisers had no choice but to postpone the event at the last minute, so the guests had to leave. Even so, against all odds, the police’s muscular intervention put the initiative back in the spotlight. Launched by seven political parties last March, it seemed to have disappeared from the radar.

What does this 231-page document, which the opposition is now distributing to all public officials and diplomats in Yaoundé, contain? According to the technical secretariat that contributed to it, 15 political parties, 12 civil society organisations and about 50 citizens responded to the call for contributions that was launched.

The proposals, which mainly concern the electoral code’s provisions that require some modifications, were analysed, excluding those that could require the Constitution to be revised. “This is the minimum acceptable for the elections to take place smoothly,” say the members of the opposition.

The standard and the unexpected

Some of these proposals are fairly standard: introducing a single ballot paper; lengthening the duration of electoral campaigns (30 days instead of 15); lowering the security deposit required for legislative elections (from 3m CFA francs ($5,165) to 500,000 CFA francs per candidate) and municipal (from 50,000 CFA francs to 25,000 CFA francs); and prohibiting polling stations from being set up in barracks or chieftaincies.

THE RACE TO TRANSFORM

Others are more surprising, such as making voting compulsory. This would complement Article 2 of the electoral law, which currently stipulates that the election is by universal, equal and secret suffrage, and that it can be direct or indirect. The measure aims to reduce the abstention rates observed in recent elections. During the last local elections in February 2020, turnout was just over 40%.

The opposition has fear and doubts regarding the neutrality, representativeness and independence of the Electoral Council.

To remedy this, it has proposed that the 18-member body be composed – in future – of eight representatives from parties sitting in the Assembly; three representatives from parties only present in municipal councils; three figures from the three parties whose candidates emerged top during the last presidential election; two representatives from the administration that were chosen by the president of the Republic who have had no political affiliation for at least three years; and two members of the civil society.

The minutes from the 2018 presidential election proved to be a stumbling block while the case was being examined before the Constitutional Council. In general, the authenticity of the documents transmitted to the Commission Nationale de Recensement des Votes was often questioned.

The opposition therefore proposed establishment of a communal commission that will be responsible for supervising votes, ensuring the conformity of the minutes and be above the departmental commission. The objective is to reduce the risk of litigation at the national level. The same document adds that all the minutes should have the same legal value, but that today, only the Elecam’s PV is valid in case of dispute.

Another proposed change – which would amend Articles 133, 168 and 194 of the electoral code – is that post-election disputes be examined after the provisional results have been announced. Therefore, the body would only be able to proclaim an election’s final results once the Constitutional Council settles any possible post-election disputes.

Source: The Africa Report

On Nov. 12, riots broke out in the city of Bamenda, the capital of Cameroon’s Northwest region, in response to the killing of 8-year-old Brandy Tataw by a stray bullet after a police officer fired a live round at a car that had supposedly not obeyed orders at a checkpoint.

After the killing, residents took to the streets with tree branches, a traditional symbol for peace, and expressed their outrage. The protests soon turned violent, with buildings burned and the military firing into the crowd. The scenes in Bamenda nearly mirrored those in Buea, the capital of the Southwest region, a month prior, when 5-year-old Caro Louise Ndialle was killed by security forces under similar circumstances and furious bystanders beat to death the officer who fired the fatal shot.

Weeks later, on Nov. 24, unidentified gunmen attacked a school in Ekondo Titi in the Southwest region, killing three students and a teacher. The government blamed secessionists, who in turn blamed other groups within the splintered Anglophone movement and the Cameroonian government.

The Anglophone crisis in Cameroon has escalated in recent months at the hands of all parties to the conflict. The crisis began in 2016 as peaceful protests by lawyers and teachers demanding linguistic reforms but rapidly escalated into a war of secession that has killed thousands of people and displaced over a million. To many in Cameroon’s Anglophone regions, the recent killings are not new but instead a continuation of the heavy-handed techniques, corruption, and impunity demonstrated by the security forces.

In the aftermath of the killings, multiple factions of the divided separatist movement announced retaliatory measures, ranging from restarting a ban on all schooling, a controversial policy that they claim is to keep children safe but is seen by many on the ground to be a means of maintaining leverage and exerting control over the population, to calls to attack all members of the military.

These are far from the only recent escalations in the conflict. On Nov. 10, an explosive device was detonated inside a lecture hall at the University of Buea and injured 11 students. Just days before, a taxi driver was killed when his car exploded in the same city. The explosions followed widespread shock after passengers were forced out of a bus and tortured by separatist fighters, purportedly for not obeying orders to enact a “ghost town.”

The idea of a ghost town—similar to a general strike, albeit enforced—was originally a means for the civilian population to demonstrate their support for the striking lawyers and teachers, but it has come to be seen on the ground as an oppressive tool used by the Anglophone diaspora to demonstrate their control. While calls to create ghost towns have not been strictly followed in recent months, the explosions and attacks have caused a new sense of fear among the population.

These actions reflect a hardening of positions by all parties to the conflict, underscoring that it will continue unless the two sides shift their focus from zero-sum approaches, denials of the conflict’s severity, and infighting. However, actions by both parties indicate that the opposite is occurring.

Since the beginning of the conflict, the Cameroonian government has been in denial, hiding the burning of villages and attempting to blame the separatists for atrocities that it later took responsibility for. The government has attempted to unilaterally propose solutions that do not address the conflict’s root causes.

It held a national dialogue in 2019 that was boycotted by separatists, which led to the implementation of decades-old changes to the Cameroonian Constitution through regional elections held in December 2020. The opposition and many civil society groups boycotted these elections while the government continued to commit the very abuses that led to the conflict in the first place.

The government has continued this denial and taken its heavy-handed approach to the conflict even further. In October, Cameroon’s foreign minister summoned the diplomatic corps in Yaoundé, the capital, and said the government had undertaken “expensive and extensive structural and administrative reforms” to address the conflict, saying they demonstrated the government’s commitment to ending it.

In reality, the government allowed nascent peace talks with imprisoned separatist leaders to fall victim to political infighting and has continued to state that symbolic actions that do not include separatists are a sufficient means of addressing Anglophone grievances. Doing so continues to show its unwillingness to accept responsibility for allowing the crisis to escalate, its continued human rights abuses, and a refusal to engage in meaningful talks.

Recently, the government has taken its disproportionate and heavy-handed approach beyond its own borders, particularly into Nigeria. Nigeria hosts more than 60,000 refugees from the conflict but has also served as a source of materials including armaments and medical treatment for separatist fighters, who take advantage of the porous border between the two countries.

While Nigeria facilitated the arrest and extradition of separatist leaders to Cameroon in 2018, an act that was later declared illegal by local courts, Anglophone Cameroonians had largely been able to live in the country with minimal interference from authorities. This situation has changed rapidly in recent months.

Anglophone Cameroonians have been facing unprecedented levels of harassment and intimidation at the hands of Nigerian authorities, including extrajudicial deportation to Cameroon, often resulting in being imprisoned and tortured once being handed over. This often takes the form of joint operations against those accused of supporting separatists but regularly leads to civilians being harassed, picked up, tortured, and deported.

In other cases, the Cameroonian military has crossed into Nigeria in search of separatist fighters, leading to complaints from Nigerian villagers about harassment and intimidation by the foreign forces. When Cameroonian forces crossed into Nigeria earlier in the conflict, it led to a diplomatic standoff between Yaoundé and Abuja. Now, it seems to be done in coordination between the two. Some observers speculate this is the result of a visit by Cameroonian officials to Abuja in July, after which the Nigerian government stated it would ensure that its country was not a safe haven for separatists in Cameroon.

Some speculate that this is the result of a partnership, announced in April, between one of the major Cameroonian secessionist groups, the Ambazonia Governing Council, and the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), a secessionist group in Nigeria. The Cameroonian government has taken advantage of the secessionist issue in an effort to convince Nigerian officials that both governments face the same threat. Cameroonian leaders frequently mention shared security challenges along the countries’ southern border and even congratulated the Nigerian government on its arrest of IPOB leader Nnamdi Kanu this year.

Cameroon’s Government Is Deceiving the West While Diverting Foreign Aid

Paul Biya’s regime is ignoring the battle against Boko Haram and the Islamic State and using foreign counterterrorism assistance to fund its brutal repression of citizens with legitimate grievances.

As the Nigerian government faces an increase in attacks by secessionist groups across its southwest, and responds by arresting more separatist leaders and threatening brutal retaliation, it is easy to depict the coordination as an extension of its domestic strategy to those perceived to support secession in neighboring Cameroon.

However, the fears underlying this approach are not well founded. It ignores the historically tense relationship between the Igbo people in southeastern Nigeria and the Anglophone populations of Cameroon, which has its roots in the colonial period. Moreover, the Ambazonia Governing Council is only one of several groups that comprise the bitterly divided secessionist movement in Cameroon, and cooperation between secessionists and Nigerian fighters has occurred throughout the conflict. Similarly, if any party to the recent accord were to benefit from the agreement, it would be the Ambazonian secessionists, who are far less established than the paramilitary wing of the IPOB.

Refugees living in Nigeria acknowledge that this argument could be used by the Cameroonian government, which has long been angered by the safe haven it saw Nigeria as providing to separatists. Regardless of its source, a climate of fear and distress now exists among refugees in Nigeria, with many believing the country they fled to is no longer safe.

Although the government bears the bulk of responsibility for the conflict and its continuation, actions by separatists in recent months have similarly caused the conflict to escalate.

Until recently, separatist fighters, composed of loosely formed groups with shifting allegiances to the bitterly divided diaspora, have predominantly relied on ambushes, kidnappings, and similar means. However, this year, separatist fighters have increased the use of improvised explosive devices (IEDs) across Cameroon’s two Anglophone regions.

Between January and April, separatists planted at least 27 IEDs that detonated across the Northwest and Southwest regions, more than in all previous years of the conflict combined. Such attacks have continued, with 15 soldiers killed in two IED attacks in September alone. These attacks have not only led to heightened fear among the Cameroonian security forces in the two regions who already were suffering from low morale but have also had a negative impact on efforts to deliver humanitarian assistance.

In addition to the use of IEDs, separatist groups have become more daring in their attacks. In early October, Cameroonian Prime Minister Joseph Dion Ngute was rushed to safety when separatist fighters began shooting in his vicinity in the Northwest region. Similarly, targets previously seen as “off-limits,” such as traditional leaders, are now being regularly kidnapped, tortured, or even killed.

The separatists, while insisting that they are open to dialogue, have neglected to resolve the infighting within the movement that has prevented potentially promising opportunities for mediation from taking hold. The use of IEDs and an uptick in attacks have undoubtedly impacted the Cameroonian military, leading it to take more brazen actions such as forming civilian militias. However, the attacks have also increased the public’s fear of being targeted or caught up in an explosion, solidifying the sentiment that neither side is serving the interests of civilians in the war-torn regions.

While the outrage that was evident on the streets of Buea and Bamenda was directly sparked by the killing of two girls, it is emblematic of the resentment that the population of Cameroon’s Anglophone regions has felt as the conflict has escalated in recent months. This is the result of actions by both the government and separatist fighters, along with a lack of progress toward resolving the conflict.

Unless the two sides accept that concessions will have to be made and that the current zero-sum approach, fraught with infighting, is untenable, such escalations will continue. The tragic result will be more scenes mirroring those that occurred in Buea and Bamenda. Only a negotiated settlement that addresses the long-standing and genuine grievances of the Anglophone minority through fundamental changes to how Cameroon is governed will lead to a sustainable  resolution of the conflict—but each escalation in the conflict makes this more difficult.

Any resolution will require the secessionist movement to resolve its entrenched infighting and understand that the desires of the populations living in Cameroon’s Anglophone regions may not be entirely aligned with the demands of activists in the diaspora. Finally, the Cameroonian government must accept its role in sparking the conflict, ranging from the decades-long marginalization of the Anglophone minority to recent human rights violations. Only after these initial steps are taken could confidence-building measures and an eventual negotiated settlement be possible.

Culled from Foreign Policy