Cameroon crisis

According to outlined objectives, the leadership retreat is expected to cultivate and begin nurturing trust among the Southern Cameroonian leaders across religious, traditional, civil society and various armed groups fighting for independence of Anglophone Regions. The retreat is also expected to come out with an agreement on a framework to enhance access to education, humanitarian aid and to uphold human rights in the crisis-hit Regions.

A group of lawyers, led by Barrister Edward Lyonga Ewule, have taken the Gendarmerie Legion Commander in Buea and the Superintendent of the Buea Central Prison to court over the torture and imprisonment of a heavily-pregnant woman, Antoinette Kongnso Gohla, on flimsy excuses that she dated the now dreaded separatist commander, ‘No Pity’, five years ago. The case comes up in Buea on October 22, 2021.

The killing which received wide condemnation and even caused a day long protest was unfortunately not the first in Buea, and certainly not a rare one in the ongoing war against separatist fighters in Cameroon’s Anglophone regions. Like several other victims who have been killed in similar circumstances, little Carolaise was killed in a situation that was uncalled for.

In the compendium, the Committee to follow up the implementation of the recommendations of the Major National Dialogue notes that “Since 2016 when corporate claims morphed into civil disobedience acts in the North West and South West Regions, the government elected to address the issues raised through Dialogue. It is in this regard that ad-hoc commissions in both the educational and legal sectors were created, meetings were organised and actions taken to address the concerns presented by the corporate bodies,” it says.

The four suspects who were standing trial for the case that attracted the attention of people within and out of Cameroon are the first persons to be slammed a death sentence in Cameroon, 24 years after such a sentence was given out and executed by a court in 1997.

Immediately after the accident, just beside the entrance into the market at Banga Bakundu, the population started shouting: “Call Doctors Without Borders! Call Doctors Without Borders!”
I did not hear anyone calling on the Muyuka District Hospital or Kumba District Hospital or the military to come and take the injured persons to the hospital.
These hospitals are just kilometres away from the scene of the incident. Even the military control post was just metres away.

National dialogues have recently gained traction as vital instruments for peace transformations in Africa. National dialogues are usually initiated to deal with a wide range of issues, including political reforms, constitution making and peacebuilding. They can also be seen as political processes aiming to reach a new social contract between interest groups and community in a country.

For some time now, several families have remained gripped in fear of the fate that may have befallen their loved ones, several weeks after they were abducted by an armed group operating in Ndian Division, in Cameroon’s Southwest region.

Buhari said his country will do everything possible to support Cameroon’s unity just as Cameroon supported Nigeria against the Biafran secessionist war of 1967-1970 during which about 3 million Nigerians were killed.

By Isidore Abah (Originally published in The Post Newspaper, Cameroon) (Buea-Cameroon) There are no safe havens in…