When ailing President Buhari and his consortium of crime syndicates in the Federal Republic of Nigeria abducted and forcefully handed over His Excellency President Sisiku Ayuk Tabe and his top aides to the Biya Francophone regime in Yaoundé, Southern Cameroonians both at home and in the Diaspora struggled to make sense of it. First, Ambazonians were shocked when they got an insight into what transpired at Nera Hotel in Abuja which was never broadcasted on Nigerian television. The Southern Cameroons Interim President Sisiku Ayuk Tabe and his cabinet were held in an undisclosed location in Nigeria by a regiment of the Nigerian secret service currently being controlled by President Buhari’s Fulani kinsmen before they were extradited to Yaoundé. So far, a detail explanation for this bizarre sequence of events emerged from Cameroon Concord News Group reporters in Abuja and Yaounde and many in French Cameroun and beyond agrees on the reason behind President Sisiku Ayuk Tabe’s abduction: Biya regime at the Sisiku’s increasingly confident leadership in the quest for Southern Cameroons independence. Above all, the Federal Republic of Nigeria is under French pressure because it is the strongest British colonial force that can chase away the French and liberate the Francophone African countries whose central bank is the French treasury. The Interim Government of the Federal Republic of Ambazonia began life some few years ago as an administration formed to defy French Cameroun’s 57 years occupation of Southern Cameroons. Since the election of President Sisiku Ayuk Tabe as Interim President, the Southern Cameroons Interim Government has successfully rallied Ambazonians throughout the globe to join the resistance. The Interim Government contended from the very inception of the Southern Cameroons resistance that its growing arsenal was solely for self- defense in the face of numerous French Cameroun army attacks and for three years running the Ambazonian Interim Government has not been defeated militarily by French Cameroun with support from France and CEMAC nations. The Biya Francophone regime with the support of the French government and diplomats from Francophone African countries such as Chad, Gabon and Congo-Brazzaville have marked the Ambazonia Interim Government as a potential threat to regional stability in the Gulf of Guinea and the CEMAC region, a status the Ambazonia Interim Government retains to this day deep within the UN, the EU and the African Union. The Ambazonia Interim Government’s political and self-defense power grew throughout the beginning of the Southern Cameroons revolution, but it was soon put to the test immediately after the arrest and extradition of President Sisiku Ayuk Tabe.  As French Cameroun political elites celebrated the criminal action that was jointly taken by the Biya-Buhari gangs, the Ambazonia Interim Government worked with the Ambazonia Self-Defense Council (ASC) to fend off French Cameroun sponsored groups such as the ADF of Cho Ayaba and Morisc of Boh Herbert trying to topple the Interim Government. Fighting alongside the Ambazonia Interim Government’s forces, the ASC came to play a critical role in the struggle and continues to do so. In the closed to three years since the Southern Cameroons war began, the Ambazonia Interim Government’s self-defense power has grown disproportionately. Even though the Interim Government is yet to secure unhindered access to arms supplies due to stone walls erected by the President Buhari administration and valuable field experience. Politically, however, the Ambazonia Interim Government has given the Biya Francophone regime a run for their money.  Some unscrupulous Southern Cameroons political elites in the Diaspora have recently developed a greedy position towards the complex conflict. This has made the Ambazonia Interim Government too weak, both politically and militarily, to engage in a conflict with a neighbor supported by France and countries in the CEMAC region. Nonetheless, Acting President Samuel Sako Ikome and his powerful Communications Secretary Chris Anu are not sitting idle and watch Ground Zero fighters – fight alone to save the Federal Republic of Ambazonia. With Restoration Fighters on Ground Zero, the Ambazonian Interim Government has become something much more than a mere resistance body against French Cameroun occupation.  The Ambazonian Interim Government now possesses power that is typically reserved for African states with backing from the West: the power to help regimes rise or fall even in Mighty Nigeria. If President Sisiku Ayuk Tabe wanted the Ambazonia Interim Government to stay in Nigeria and waged an armed struggle against French Cameroun, he would have done so immediately after he took over leadership of the struggle. That explains why Abuja invited him to the negotiation table but made a dramatic U turn and interfered so boldly and directly in the Southern Cameroons crisis. By arresting President Sisiku Ayuk Tabe and his top aides in Abuja, the God father of political Islam, President Buhari sought to pull the political rug from underneath Ambazonia Interim Government’s feet. The Southern Cameroons struggle is now in a critical position. If the Ambazonia Interim Government gives up its popular support, that will be the end of the show. But should it heed the ASC’s advice it will come out as a more powerful administration.  Whatever the Ambazonia Interim Government does with the ASC, its ’s next move puts hundreds of thousands of Southern Cameroonians in Ambzonia, French Cameroun and Nigeria at risk. By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai

The main opposition Movement for the Rebirth of Cameroon called off demonstrations planned in several cities on Saturday, a party leader said, following a government ban on protests.

“The MRC will not demonstrate today,” said Emmanuel Simh, one of the vice presidents of the movement led by Maurice Kamto, the runner-up in last year’s presidential election who was arrested this week.

Authorities on Thursday banned planned protests in the capital Yaounde after a series of unauthorized anti-government demonstrations and some 200 arrests.

Former government minister Kamto, who claims to have been cheated out of the presidency, was arrested in the economic capital Douala on Monday.

His lawyers have said he is under investigation for alleged insurrection. Four planned marches, scheduled for Friday and Saturday and the following week, were prohibited for public order reasons.

Opposition marches took place in several towns last weekend, against the re-election of Cameroon’s veteran leader Paul Biya. Biya, 85, who has held power for 36 years, won a seventh consecutive term last October. Kamto came second in the election with 14 percent.

(AFP)

Cameroon’s main opposition leader, Maurice Kamto, who has continuously claimed he won the last year’s contentious presidential election, is in detention after he was arrested alongside dozens of protesters in the economic capital Douala on Monday (Jan. 28) for organizing and participating in street demonstrations.

The crackdown was also extended to reporters, with the arrest of two journalists on duty, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists.

Kamto, president of the Cameroon Renaissance Movement, was a runner up to president Paul Biya in last October’s presidential election, coming a distant second with 14.23% of the vote. He claimed the election was marred with irregularities and immediately proclaimed himself winner. Kamto has since then been organizing sporadic demonstrations to reclaim “his victory.”

The demonstrations, christened “White Marches”, which were violently quelled, left about six people with bullet wounds. Up to 117 protesters were arrested in Douala, Yaounde, Bafoussam and Mbouda, according to Rene Emmanuel Sadi, minister of communication. The minister said the public demonstrations were unauthorized and condemned the “unacceptable maneuvers to destabilize Cameroon under the false pretext of an electoral hold-up.”

Demonstrations also took place abroad. In Paris, Cameroon’s embassy was ransacked while protests also took place in the United States, United Kingdom, Belgium, Switzerland, Italy and Germany.

Many rights organizations, including Amnesty International, have called for the immediate and unconditional release of Kamto and other protesters, underscoring the need for the government to respect people’s right to freedom of expression and peaceful assembly.

The government of president Biya, who has ruled Cameroon since 1982, is yet to respond to the many calls for the protesters to be released. This is similar to the uncompromising action the government took at the onset of the Anglophone crisis.

Back then in 2016, when a modest protest by Anglophone lawyers and teachers over perceived and real marginalization by the Francophone-dominated government erupted, the government’s instinct was to respond with force, deploying the elite Rapid Intervention Battalion and numerous arrests.

Many Cameroon watchers now believe the aggressive show of force frustrated any hope of a peaceful resolution of the conflict through dialogue early on after the government arrested trade union leaders with whom it was negotiating and outlawed the umbrella union.

There has been no end to the conflict in sight since then. And as the army has been empowered to use heavy force, many more people have been radicalized and increasingly bold armed separatists are earning support at home and from the diaspora and are multiplying in numbers.

Many now fear the recent twist of issues can take same course as the same cause always produces the same effect.

Source: Quartz Africa

Cameroon’s main opposition chief Maurice Kamto has been charged with insurrection after his arrest on Monday. He has pleaded not guilty to the charges his lawyer confirmed to the media.

His lawyers confirmed the charge which could lead to imprisonment term ranging from five years to life sentence. Other charges he is facing along with over 200 other detainees include holding illegal gatherings and disturbing public order.

The party Kamto leads, the Cameroon Renaissance Movement, CRM, held rallies last weekend across major cities whiles they were replicated in other European capitals.

The government clampdown will not frighten anybody.

The anti-government protests for not being sanctioned by the relevant law enforcement authorities led to the arrests earlier this week. The protests are related to October 2018 elections which Kamto came second in.

The vote was won by incumbent Paul Biya who polled over 70% to seal a seventh straight term in office. Kamto had declared himself winner even before the elections body could put out a winner.

His team lodged a complaint at the Constitutional Court along with other opposition parties. Even though their petition was admitted for hearing, it was dismissed by the judges as without merit.

Kamto’s lawyer, Christopher Ndong told the press that his client’s arrest was needless because he was only exercising a right to protest. “The government clampdown will not frighten anybody,” he said disclosing that more protests were to follow this weekend.

Africa News

The lawyer for Cameroon’s arrested main opposition leader says he now faces eight charges including sedition, insurrection and inciting violence.

Christopher Ndong told The Associated Press Thursday that Maurice Kamto also faces charges that include hostility against the fatherland and disruption of peace. If he is found guilty, he could face five years to life in prison.

Kamto and members of his Movement for the Renaissance of Cameroon party were arrested on Monday in Douala. The party over the weekend had called for protests against what it called irregularities in the Oct. 7 election that saw President Paul Biya easily win a seventh term. Official results said Kamto finished a distant second.

More than 100 protesters were arrested in various cities. International rights groups have called for their release.

Source: AP

Authorities in Cameroon on Thursday banned planned protest marches in the capital Yaounde after a series of unauthorised anti-government demonstrations and some 200 arrests, including the detention of main opposition leader Maurice Kamto.

Former government minister Kamto, who claims to have been cheated out of the presidency in last year’s elections, was arrested in the economic capital Douala on Monday.

His lawyers have said he is under investigation for alleged insurrection.

Four planned marches, scheduled for Friday and Saturday and the following week, are prohibited for the “preservation of public order”, said area administrator Jean-Claude Tsila in a statement read out on state radio.

The organisers of the marches have been asked to “give up their plans”, the statement added.

Opposition marches took place in several towns last weekend, protesting against the reelection of Cameroon’s veteran leader Paul Biya.

Biya, 85, won a seventh consecutive term in last October’s disputed presidential election with 71 percent of the vote, according to the official results. He has held power for 36 years.

Kamto came second in the election with 14 percent.

Late on Wednesday, Kamto’s lawyers said eight charges had been levelled against him and some 200 other detainees, including “group rebellion” and “hostility to the homeland”.

He is also accused of “insurrection”, “breaching the peace” and “incitement to insurrection”.

All of the detainees face the same allegations, according to lawyer Sylvain Souop, member of a team of 15 lawyers.

“The ‘facts’ have been defined even before the people have been heard,” he said.

On Wednesday Souop met with Kamto, who was detained by an elite police unit called the Special Operations Group.

“He is well, his morale is good and he was interrogated (on Wednesday) in the presence of the director general of the criminal investigation division,” Souop said.

– ‘Destabilise’ the government –

After the weekend protests, Communications Minister Rene Emmanuel Sadi accused Kamto and his party, the Movement for the Rebirth of Cameroon (MRC), of trying to “destabilise” the government.

Anti-government protests also took place in some European capitals at the weekend, with Cameroonian demonstrators breaking into the country’s embassies in France and Germany.

In Paris, they smashed pictures of Biya and caused other damage.

MRC party officials have denied organising the protests abroad.

“Kamto denounces this vandalism in diplomatic missions. He has never sent anyone to break anything,” Souop said.

A former justice minister under Biya, Kamto “has confidence in the justice of Cameroon”, Souop said.

Other people detained by the authorities include MRC activists and the party treasurer Alain Fogue.

Security forces also arrested two Cameroonian journalists on Monday night, confusing them for political activists, according to the national journalists’ union.

Both men were still in detention on Thursday.

Press freedom watchdog Reporters Without Borders on Thursday said a journalist was assaulted “by three unidentified individuals as he was leaving his house” but did not specify whether the attack was related to his work.

– ‘Escalating crackdown’ –

In a statement on Thursday, the National Council of Communication (CNC) said it had noted a rise in “calls for sedition or incitement to tribal hatred” in the media and on social networks.

The CNC “calls on all those involved in the media sector to show professionalism and responsibility in the collection, processing and dissemination of information intended for the public”, wrote CNC president Peter Essoka.

Human rights groups have condemned Kamto’s arrest and called for his immediate release.

Analysts say the authorities view Kamto as a threat.

“It’s been a long time since Cameroon had an opposition figure of this stature,” Hans de Marie Heungoup from the think tank International Crisis Group told AFP in Libreville.

Source: AFP

Human rights groups and activists are appealing to the Cameroonian authorities to immediately release opposition leader Maurice Kamto, who was arrested in the economic capital Douala on Monday night.

Prof Kamto was reportedly whisked away to the Judicial Police Headquarters in the capital Yaoundé. The area was cordoned off and no one, including his lawyers and journalists, were allowed access to the detained opposition leader on Tuesday.

Amnesty International said the arrest of the leader of the Cameroon Renaissance Movement (MRC), who came second in the October 2018 presidential election, signalled an escalating crackdown on opposition leaders, human rights defenders and activists.

Prof Kamto was arrested alongside four of his supporters.

“The authorities must immediately and unconditionally release them, as well as the peaceful protesters detained at the weekend simply for exercising their rights to freedom of expression and peaceful assembly,” Amnesty’s West and Central Africa director Samira Daoud said in a statement.

Less tolerant

“Instead of taking steps towards improving the country’s human rights record, we are witnessing the authorities becoming less and less tolerant of criticism. This must stop,” the statement further quoted Ms Daoud.

The Network of Human Rights Defenders in Central Africa (REDHAC) said Prof Kamto’s arrest was a “flagrant violation of the law” and called for the “immediate and unconditional release” of the opposition leader and all those who were arrested in relation to last weekend’s protests.

The MRC secretary-general secretary, Mr Christopher Ndong, said Prof Kamto was arrested alongside several other party members. Two journalists were among those arrested.

Prof Kamto has continuously insisted that he won the presidential poll, whose official result show he emerged a distant second with 14.23 percent vote. His supporters have been organising sporadic protests against what they term “an electoral hold-up” in defiance of a government warning against post-electoral disorder.

Remain calm

At least 117 people, including Prof Kamto’s former campaign manager, Mr Paul Eric Kingue, and popular musician Gaston Serval Abe (Valsero), were arrested during protest marches in several towns including Yaoundé and Bafoussam at the weekend.

Saturday’s nationwide “white marches” by the opposition party were unauthorised according to Communication minister Rene Emmanuel Sadi. He said those arrested were “caught disrupting public order and perpetrating various assaults”.

However, according to the MRC third vice-president, Mr Emmanuel Simh, the hidden aim of the “unjustified political arrests, was to decapitate the MRC and Prof Maurice Kamto’s winning coalition”.

MRC has called on its members and sympathisers to remain calm and attentive to instructions the party national directorate would give.

Source: The East African