Cameroon Civilians Protest The Growing Violence In The English Speaking Provinces

VOA: Cameroon Civilians Protest Growing Separatist Barbarism, Increasing Violence

YAOUNDE - Hundreds of Cameroonians have braved a heavy military presence and separatists’ threats to protest increasing violence and barbarism in the central African state’s restive English-speaking regions. The protest in the southwestern town of Muyuka was provoked by the killing of civilians and other brutality by the military, which is searching for separatists said to be responsible for a recent wave of attacks and murder of women and aid workers.

About 300 people, most of them women and children marched silently on the streets of Cameroon’s southwestern town of Muyuka Sunday. Twenty-nine-year-old Ernestine Naayah said Cameroon’s Womens Peace Movement, which she represents in Muyuka, and four other organizations organized the protest because they are fed up with growing violence in Cameroon’s English-speaking Northwest and Southwest regions.

"I am out here today to say no to violence, to decry the killings of innocent civilians and especially women. Our cry today is for the leaders of the nation to do something about the crisis in the North and Southwest regions. We all deserve to live in peace in this glorious land God has given us," she said.

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Update #1: Cameroon Military Arrests 100s in Anglophone Regions After Civilians Killed (VOA)
Update #2: UN ‘strongly condemns’ rights abuses in Cameroon (Premium Times)

WNU Editor: This conflict has been ongoing for years .... Thousands Flee The Growing Violence In Cameroon's Anglophone Provinces (December 21, 2017).

Cameroon Army Blamed For Massacre Of Civilians On Friday

AFP: Cameroon army blames accident for village 'massacre'

Yaoundé (AFP) - Cameroon's army on Monday denied opposition charges that it had massacred villagers in a troubled anglophone region, blaming instead an "unfortunate accident" caused by an explosion of fuel during a firefight.

Up to 22 civilians, 14 of them children, died in the incident on Friday, according to the United Nations -- deaths which opposition parties blamed on members of the armed forces.

But army spokesman Colonel Cyrille Atonfack Guemo described the allegations as "duplicitous."

An army investigation, he said, found that the deaths happened after fuel was set ablaze during a gunfight with anglophone separatists.

Five civilians -- a woman and four children -- died, and "seven terrorists" were "neutralised," Atonfack told AFP in Libreville by phone.

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More News On The Cameroon Army Being Blamed For A Massacre Of Civilians On Friday

Children among 22 killed in attack on Cameroon village -- BBC
Children make up more than half of dead in Cameroon village massacre -- France 24
14 children among dozens killed in Cameroon attack, UN says -- CNN
UN: 14 children among at least 22 dead in Cameroon massacre -- Al Jazeera

Cameron Elections: Violence And Calls For An Election Boycott This Sunday

AFP: Cameroon elections overshadowed by boycott and violence

aoundé (AFP) - Voters in Cameroon will cast their ballots Sunday in a country where the mood has been darkened by separatist violence and calls for an election boycott.

Elections to renew the central African country's legislature and local councils are taking place for the first time in seven years, after two postponements.

Despite the delays, the campaigning has been low key.

In the capital Yaounde, the few banners put up by the ruling Cameroon People's Democratic Movement (RDPC in its French initials) are barely more numerous than posters calling on people to pick up their litter.

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Cameron Elections: Violence And Calls For An Election Boycott This Sunday

Cameroon elections: A vote marked by violence and abstention -- DW
Cameroon gears up for delayed polls amid security fears -- Al Jazeera
Cameroon Opposition Says Supporters Arrested for Campaigning for Boycott -- VOA
Cameroon: Rise in killings in Anglophone regions ahead of parliamentary elections -- Amnesty International
Scared Cameroonians Flee From English-Speaking Regions Ahead of Sundays Polls -- Relief Web

Thousands Flee Deadly Violence In Cameroon's Anglophone-Separatist Regions

DW: A new surge of people fleeing Cameroon's Anglophone regions

Thousands of people are hastily exiting Cameroon's conflict-torn Anglophone regions as repercussions of the jailing of separatist leaders by the Francophone-led government begin to take hold.

Separatist factions demanding the release of their leaders have begun locking down the north-west and south-west regions and urging a boycott of a ‘back to school' campaign supported by the Francophone-led state and civil society groups.

Thousands of people have already fled their homes in cities like Bamenda, Buea and Kumba - at the epicenter of the conflict. Some have sought to hide out in the bush to escape the wrath of both the security forces and armed separatists.

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More News On Thousands Fleeing Deadly Violence In Cameroon's Anglophone-Separatist Regions

Thousands flee deadly violence in Cameroon's separatist regions: sources -- Reuters
Thousands Flee Violence in Cameroon’s English-Speaking Regions -- VOA
“We aren’t safe at all”: Cameroonians flee English-speaking regions -- RFI
Thousands flee Cameroon anglophone regions in fear of violence: UN -- The East African

Cameroon's War Againts It's Snglish Minority Continues To Rage

Reuters: As violence rages, Cameroon government in denial, HRW says

PARIS (Reuters) - Prospects for talks between authorities and separatist movements to end escalating violence in Cameroon’s English-speaking region are slim, a senior human rights official said on Friday, dismissing assertions by both sides to be open to dialogue.

A separatist insurgency broke out in 2017 following a government crackdown on peaceful protests in the English-speaking Northwest and Southwest, which complain of being marginalized by the French-speaking majority.

Prime Minister Joseph Ngute has said the government would be willing to talk to the rebels, but would not consider their demand for secession - a position hardline separatists have said they will never accept.

Eleven movements representing Anglophone Cameroon, including the main armed factions, last month said they were willing to enter mediated discussions with the state.

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Update #1: Rights groups urge action as Cameroon Anglophone crisis worsens (France 24)
Update #2: Cameroon: NGOs Exaggerate Separatist Crisis (VOA)

WNU Editor: The government is also moving to shut down the counry's main opposition party who are claiming that last year's election was stolen from them .... Hundreds of opposition members arrested in Cameroon (The Guardian).

Polls Close In Cameroon's Presidential Election. President Paul Biya Is Expected To Be Re-Elected

DW: Cameroon: Polls close, conflict simmers

Voting has closed in Cameroon despite low turnup in Buea, the capital of the southwestern region. Some administrative officials were seen casting their ballots after local residents were threatened by separatists.

This means that results from the overall count are questionable, especially that independent could not get access to polling stations in time. The capital of Cameroon's southwest, Buea, is a ghost city. Shops, banks, schools and markets are closed. Public services have been suspended. A town that once had around 200,000 people has been left deserted by the ongoing conflict.

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WNU Editor: The ongoing war against the Anglophone regions of the country will continue.

More News On Today's Cameroon Presidential Election

Cameroon polls close, vote counting begins in key election -- AP
Polls close in Cameroon after vote marked by separatist unrest -- Reuters
Gunfire in Cameroon's anglophone regions deters voters on polling day -- The Guardian
Cameroon army deploys to deliver vote to restive area -- AFP
Polls open in Cameroon as President Biya seeks seventh term -- Al JAzeera
Cameroon election: President Paul Biya seeks seventh term -- BBC
Cameroonians vote as Biya seeks to extend 36-year rule -- TRT

Cameroon's War Against Its Anglophone Minority Is 'Spiralling Out Of Control'

The Guardian: Violence in Cameroon’s anglophone regions ‘spiralling out of control’

Amnesty warns separatist attacks could escalate, as armed men target school.

Brutal attacks on civilians and security forces in anglophone regions of Cameroon have escalated in recent weeks and could rise even further in the run-up to presidential elections next month, rights groups have warned.

A self-declared member of the Ambazonia Liberation Forces appeared in a new video alongside images of a soldier’s decapitated head, according to Amnesty’s experts, who said the head had bruises on it and lay on a blood-soaked white cloth next to what could be the man’s genitalia.

“Ambazonia” is the name separatists would like to give to their new country, if they achieve independence, and is derived from Ambas Bay in southern Cameroon.

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More News On The Growing Sectarian Civil War In Cameroon

Cameroon: Horrific violence escalates further in Anglophone regions -- Amnesty International
Amnesty: Violence in Cameroon's anglophone regions escalates -- Al Jazeera
Amnesty International says 400 killed in 'escalating violence' in Cameroon's Anglophone regions this year -- CNN
Cameroon to 'disallow' exodus from restive Anglophone region -- Africa News

Fighting And Massacres Are Being Reported In The English Region Of Cameroon

SCMP/AFP: Cameroon clashes leave 22 people dead as English-speaking separatists push for greater independence

Violence between insurgents and government forces has occurred almost daily in the region since a political crisis escalated in late 2016

Twenty-two people have been killed in clashes with the army in Cameroon, an opposition MP said on Saturday, in the latest violence to hit the restive northwest, where separatists from the English-speaking minority are fighting for greater autonomy.

The identity of those killed was not immediately clear, with the army describing them as “terrorists” and villagers saying they were criminals.

The clashes come after the US ambassador to Cameroon accused government forces earlier this month of carrying out targeted killings and other abuses in the fight against the independence-seeking militants.

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WNU Editor: Massacres are being reported .... Dozens killed in Cameroon's restive Anglophone region (EWN). More here .... Fresh massacre in Cameroon’s Anglophone region (Today's News Africa).

More News On The Ongoing Violence In Cameroon

Deaths in Anglophone Cameroon, army confirms firefight with separatists -- Africa News
Dozens of Cameroon Youth Killed in South -- VOA
22 killed in clashes in Cameroon English-speaking region: MP -- ENCA/AFP
Anglophone activists convicted of 'terrorism' in Cameroon -- Al Jzeera
Cameroon military court jails Anglophone activists -- BBC
Cameroon is victim of separatist violence – govt replies US envoy -- Africa News

The Cameroon Government Has Launched A 'Dirty War' Against The English Minority

Cameroon's linguistic tensions have a long history whose origins can be traced back to the colonial era. DW

AFP: 'Dirty war' ravages Cameroon's anglophone region

Buea (Cameroon) (AFP) - They call it a "dirty war" -- a silent conflict in Cameroon's anglophone region marked by near-daily attacks by separatists and a brutal army backlash that shows no sign of abating.

Over the past eight months, scores of police, soldiers and civilians have died in the heartland of francophone Cameroon's English-speaking minority.

Homes have been torched, shops looted, complaints of summary arrest and detention are common and, according to UN estimates, tens of thousands have fled their homes.

"In less than two weeks, there were attacks on the motorcades of the chief of staff, the governor and me as well," said General Donatien Nouma Melingui, in charge of military operations in the Southwest Region, which with the neighbouring Northwest Region is home to most of Cameroon's anglophones.

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WNU Editor: This is rapidly escalating into a sectarian civil war based on language.

More News On Cameroons Growing Civil War

Both sides in Cameroon's escalating separatist crisis turn on journalists -- DW
Cameroon govt blocking humanitarian aid to fleeing Anglophones? -- Africa News
Cameroon: Pardoned lawyer urges Anglophone groups to hold talks and reconcile diverging views -- RFI
Schools Under Attack in Northwest Cameroon -- Relief Web
Experts calls Church ‘only hope’ in Cameroon’s ‘Anglophone crisis’ -- CRUX

Thousands Flee The Growing Violence In Cameroon's Anglophone Provinces

VOA: Cameroon Villages Burned After Separatist Attacks

YAOUNDE — Several villages are said to have been set ablaze in Cameroon's English speaking southwestern town of Mamfe after armed separatists attacked military installations and killed four soldiers. The Cameroon government says it has seized three of the armed separatists' training camps.

Cameroon communication minister and government spokesperson Issa Tchiroma says for the past two weeks, military and armed separatist groups have been involved in bloody conflicts in the English speaking southwestern town of Mamfe on the border with Nigeria.

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WNU Editor: This conflict is spiraling out of control .... Exclusive - Cameroonian troops entered Nigeria without seeking authorisation, sources in Nigeria say (Reuters)

English Cameroonians Flee Government Troops In The Southwest Of The Country

Reuters: Cameroon escalates military crackdown on Anglophone separatists

YAOUNDE (Reuters) - Cameroon’s government has ordered thousands of villagers to leave their homes in the Anglophone Southwest region as it deploys troops to root out armed separatists who have vowed to loosen President Paul Biya’s long grip on power.

The deployment marks an escalation of Biya’s year-long crackdown on peaceful protests in the English-speaking Northwest and Southwest regions that has killed dozens of civilians and forced thousands to flee their homes in fear of reprisals.

Now, the government is using force to confront an insurgency that has sprung up alongside the civil unrest.

The separatists have killed at least eight soldiers and policemen over the past month as part of their campaign to break from the capital Yaounde in Francophone Cameroon and form a separate state called Ambazonia.

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Update #1: Cameroonians Flee Government Troops in English-Speaking Regions -- DW
Update #2: Cameroonians flee anticipated military offensive on secessionists -- Africanews

WNU Editor: Cameroon is now on the brink of a civil war due to resistance against the imposition of the French language on the English speaking regions of the country.

Secessionist Movements Gain Momentum In Nigeria And Cameroon

New York Times: In Nigeria and Cameroon, Secessionist Movements Gain Momentum

LAGOS, Nigeria — In recent days, independence votes in restive parts of Spain and Iraq have captured the world’s attention, leading to street clashes, angry threats from aggrieved politicians and even heated words from a king.

But long-simmering tensions over separatist movements in West Africa have also sent huge crowds into the streets and led to deadly government crackdowns and fears of more bloodshed.

In Cameroon, 17 people were killed in recent days during protests in English-speaking areas, where some residents have called for splitting off from French-speaking parts of the nation, Amnesty International said.

In Nigeria, a movement in the southeast seeking independence from the rest of the country has also gained steam — 50 years after a civil war over the same issue left one million people dead in one of the region’s deadliest conflicts.

Last month, Nigeria’s president, Muhammadu Buhari, declared a separatist group, the Indigenous People of Biafra, a terrorist organization and unleashed a military offensive in the region.

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WNU editor: In both countries we have minorities who feel that they are being persecuted by a central government .... and the government's response is to use force when these minorities protest. This type of action never ends well.

Cameroon's English Speakers Are Calling For Independence

Al Jazeera: Cameroon's English-speakers call for independence

Troops deployed to Anglophone regions as activists declare symbolic independence from country's French-speaking areas.

Cameroon's government has banned public gatherings, suspended transportation and shut businesses in the country's English-speaking regions as activists symbolically declared independence from the majority French-speaking areas.

Tensions continue to run high in towns and cities in Cameroon's northwest and southwestern regions country with thousands of security forces said to be patrolling the streets in a bid to quell planned demonstrations against President Paul Biya's administration.

"Today, we reaffirm our autonomy over our heritage and over our territory," the Southern Cameroons Ambazonia Consortium United Front (SCACUF) said in a statement on Facebook.

The government has said the move carries no legal weight.

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WNU Editor: This is getting violent .... At least seven shot dead amid Cameroon Anglophone protests (Reuters).

More News On The Growing Unrest Among English Cameroons

Cameroon bans pro-independence rallies in Anglophone area -- BBC
Cameroon Anglophone regions to shut Nigeria border over protests -- Business Insider
Tight security as Cameroon awaits symbolic anglophone 'independence' -- AFP
Cameroon Police, Army Move to Block Anglophone Protests -- VOA
Cameroon blocks social media access in restive English-speaking regions -- Africa News
Cameroon Tries to Quash Independence Movement in English Regions -- VOA
Cameroon: The Ambazonia Declaration - How the Govt Can Avoid Bloodshed -- ALlAfrica

Boko Haram's Attack Against A Cameroon Army Base Is Repulsed

AFP: Boko Haram attacks Cameroon military base

WNU Editor: Cameroon's President warned a few days ago that this was going to happen .... Boko Haram Threatens War Against Cameroon. The Cameroon military is saying that they killed 143 Boko Haram fighters (I personally doubt this number) .... but it definitely looks like Cameroon is now at war with Boko Haram

More News On Today's Boko Haram Attack Against A Cameroon Army Base

Cameroonian soldiers kill 300 Boko Haram fighters -Minister -- Punch
Cameroon says 143 Boko Haram fighters killed in army base attack -- AFP
Cameroon repels cross-border Boko Haram attack on army base -- AFP
Report: Boko Haram attacks Cameroon -- Deutsche Welle
Boko Haram attacks Cameroon military base -- Al Jazeera
Boko Haram push across border to attack Cameroon army -- The Telegraph
Boko Haram attacks town in north Cameroon, killing one -- Reuters
Cameroon Lawmakers to Demand Improved anti-Boko Haram Strategy -- VOA

Boko Haram Threatens War Against Cameroon

The Independent: Boko Haram threatens Cameroon with violence 'unless it embraces Islam' in latest video

WNU Editor: The Cameroon government is clearly expecting the worse, and it is also obvious that the are worried and afraid of Boko Haram .... Cameroon appeals for international military aid to fight Boko Haram (Reuters)

Update #1: Cameroon President Calls for Greater Help to Fight Boko Haram (VOA)

Update #2: Other governments are running sacred. The neighboring country of Niger has already sent signals to all parties that they will not get involved in the fight against Boko Haram .... Boko Haram crisis: Niger 'will not help retake' town of Baga (BBC)

Update #3: Niger's position on not wanting to get involved is interesting .... there are at least two U.S. drone bases that are probably manned by hundreds of U.S. military personnel and contractors within their country. With such a U.S. presence and .... I can only presume U.S. security guarantees .... why should the Niger government be afraid of Boko Haram? 

Boko Haram Threatens To Bring War To Cameroon

VOA/Reuters: Boko Haram Threatens Cameroon With Violence in Video

WNU Editor: These fanatics do not see borders .... so Cameroon is an obvious target. But there are probably two reason why Boko Haram will have problems in making inroads into Cameroon .... (1) the military appears to be slightly more professional than the Nigerian military, and (2) Muslims are a minority in Cameroon (less than 20%).

Update: Boko Haram threatens to attack Cameroon -- AFP

Nigerian Boko Haram MIlitants Launch Attacks In Neighboring Cameroon

Cameroon: At Least 30 People Killed in Boko Haram Attack -- Sputnik

The militants of Boko Haram have killed around 30 people in Mbaljuel, a village in the north of Cameroon.

MOSCOW, December 28 (Sputnik) — The militants of Boko Haram have killed around 30 people in Cameroon, regional governor Mijiyawa Bakary told Deutsche Presse-Agentur.

The militants attacked Mbaljuel, a village in the north of the country, bordering Nigeria.

"We do not yet have all the facts, but our divisional officers and security officials are filling us in," Bakary told the agency Saturday, adding that the victims were civilians.

Boko Haram is a prominent Nigerian military group intent on imposing Sharia law in the country. It is blamed for over 10,000 deaths over the last five years.

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More News On The Conflict Between Boko Haram And The Cameroon Military

Boko Haram blamed in 23 Cameroon deaths -- CNN
30 people killed in Boko Haram attack in Cameroon -- Press TV
Cameroonian army kills over 100 Boko Haram militants -- Punch
Over 100 suspected Boko Haram militants killed by Cameroonian army -- Xinhuanet
100 Boko Haram fighters killed, 200 arrested by Cameroon army -- The News

Cameroon Rebels Free 10 Hostages

A map of Cameroon and Nigeria, locating Bakassi Peninsula. Ten oil workers, seven of them French, one Tunisian and two Cameroonian, who were kidnapped and threatened with death by rebels in Cameroon have been released safe and sound after being held for 12 days. (AFP/Graphic/Er / Gil)

From AFP:

YAOUNDE (AFP) – Ten mainly French oil workers who were kidnapped and threatened with death by rebels in Cameroon were released safe and sound late Tuesday after being held for 12 days.

The seven French nationals, one Tunisian and two Cameroonians, workers for French shipping company Bourbon, were seized by gunmen who stormed aboard their ship off the coast of Cameroon's Bakassi Peninsula on October 31.

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