Dibussi Tande: Scribbles from the Den

In Memoriam: Dakole Daissala, the man who helped consolidate the CPDM's 30-year grip on power

"Will the MDR set the course for true political change in Cameroon thereby making history or will they join Biya to bring about some cosmetic changes and continue to lord over the people?" Le Messager, March 23, 1992.

"In a context of unleashed passions, people (politicians) don't yet have to calmness of mind to assess our courage and our sense of responsibility. History will prove us right." Dakole Daissala, La Vision, 15 Juin 1992.

Dakole Daissala, the Camerounian opposition politician who famously threw in his lot with the ruling CPDM regime after the multiparty legislative elections in April 1992, died this week in Yaounde at age 79. Dakole wanted to be remembered as the hero of Cameroonian democracy, as the one who saved the country from the clutches of political extremists on both sides of the isle. 30 years after he threw in his lot with the Biya regime the verdict is in. Or is it? Here is the story of those fateful events of March-April 1992.

 

A Preliminary Bibliography of the Anglophone Crisis/Ambazonian Conflict in Cameroon

By Dibussi Tande

Since 2016, there has been a deluge of textual and audio-visual material – most of it available in real or near real time – on the “Anglophone Crisis” in Cameroon that morphed into a full scale conflict in 2017 and has thus far claimed (by the most conservative estimates) at least 3,500 or 4,000 lives, and forced close to 800,000 people from their homes.
Paradoxically, this easy access to information on the conflict has generated much more heat than light because most of this information generally lacks the distance and context to provide a holistic understanding and appraisal of the conflict - for example, its origins and manifestations; the key players and stakeholders and their motives, ideologies and modus operandi; similarities with other conflicts around the world; potential outcomes and obstacles to a resolution, etc.

Just Published: "The Constitution and Governance in Cameroon" by Laura-Stella Enonchong

Enonchong, L.-S. E. (2021). The constitution and governance in Cameroon. Abingdon, Oxon ; New York, NY : Routledge.
About the Book
This book provides a systematic analysis of the major structural and institutional governance mechanisms in Cameroon, critically analysing the constitutional and legislative texts on Cameroon’s semi-presidential system, the electoral system, the legislature, the judiciary, the Constitutional Council and the National Commission on Human Rights and Freedoms.

Memory Lane (January 1954): Southern Cameroons Breaks off from the Eastern Region of Nigeria

The New York Times, Friday January 22, 1954 - Nigeria Talks Set Role of Cameroons

Lagos Nigeria, Jan 21 - The Nigerian constitutional conference agreed today that the Southern Cameroons trust territory should become a separate unit within the contemplated federation of Nigeria.
The first Executive Council for Southern Cameroons (1954). Picture taken at the Schloss in Buea.

Oliver Lyttelton, British Colonial Secretary, who is presiding over the conference, presented a series of proposals that he had formulated last night in consultation with the delegates from the British Cameroons, a trust territory under the United Nations.

The conference endorsed these proposals, the most important of which were:

A Celebration of Family and Friendship: A Review of Martin Jumbam’s Beads of Memory

By Dibussi Tande

Jumbam, Martin. (2020). Beads of Memory. The Diary of an African Student in Madrid. Denver, CO: Spears Books. 98 pages. $15.00. Available from Spears Books, Amazon, African Books Collective.

Beads of Memory is the story of Leinteng Basha, a young Cameroonian studying in Madrid in the 1970s. The story starts off like any other about African students in a strange European country, looking in from outside, and trying to adapt to their new and sometimes hostile environment and its alien mores. Leinteng’s story, however, goes beyond "the usual complaints of African students abroad: loneliness, homesickness, the indifference of a heartless and racist society" to offer a humor-laced but laser-focused analysis of society.

Memory Lane (Jan 1, 1960): French Cameroons Independence Celebrations

On January 1, 1960 , the French Cameroons aka Republique du Cameroun gained its independence from France. Here is a rare  English language report on the official celebrations commemorating this even. Among the participants featured in this brief clip is John Ngu Foncha, Premier of British Southern Cameroons, whose message to the people of "East Kamerun" is available here.

Now Available: Bearing Witness. Poems from a Land in Turmoil

Ashuntantang, J. & Tande, D.(2020). Bearing Witness. Poems from a Land in Turmoil. Denver, CO:: Spears Books. 224 Pages. Available from Spears Books. Also available from Amazon, African Books Collective.
Bearing Witness. Poems from a Land in Turmoil is a poetic response to the devastating Anglophone Crisis/Ambazonian Conflict in Cameroon that has killed thousands of children, women and men, displaced over half a million people and left hundreds of communities in ruins. The poems in this volume capture an all-encompassing landscape marked by alienation, despair, displacement, loss, anger, trauma, as well as courage, hope, heroism, justice and resilience. These poems also engender psychic healing which has the potential of turning victims into survivors. With over 100 poems by 73 poets—seasoned and emerging, old and young, men and women—this collection is not only a guidepost of collective memory, but also the definitive literary work of this period in Cameroon’s checkered history.

Memory Lane (Jan 1, 1960): Message of J.N. Foncha, Premier of Southern Cameroons, to the People of La Republique du Cameroun on their Independence Day

I wish to say how happy we of the Southern Cameroons are... We look forward to seeing you enter courageously among the sovereign nations of the world. In this happy venture we wish you God’s guidance. Premier Foncha.

Mr. President of the Republic of Cameroun, Honourable Ambassadors and Ministers, Ladies and Gentlemen,
On behalf of the people of the Southern Cameroons, my delegation and myself take this opportunity to congratulate the people of Eastern Kamerun for their well-earned independence. It gives me the greatest pleasure to be here in Yaoundé to take part in the celebration of this historic occasion. This happy day has not come as a surprise, it is the result of hard struggle. Congratulations to the architects of this resounding victory and masses of the population who have in their various ways contributed to the success.

[Just Released] Pop Makossa - The Invasive Dance Beat of Cameroon 1976​-​1984

Originally published on Analog Africa

What had happened to Bill Loko, the teenage super-star whose monster hit ‘Nen Lambo’ caused such a sensation? How did bandleader Eko Roosevelt go from Cameroonian prodigy to chief of an idyllic seaside village? And who exactly was Mystic Djim, the dreadlocked producer and mercurial hit-maker? etc., etc.

The Pop Makossa adventure started in 2009, when Analog Africa founder Samy Ben Redjeb first travelled to Cameroon to make an initial assessment of the country’s musical situation. He returned with enough tracks for an explosive compilation highlighting the period when funk and disco sounds began to infiltrate the Makossa style popular throughout Cameroon.

So why has it taken almost eight years from that first visit to the final compilation? From the very beginning, there were several mysteries hanging over Pop Makossa.

Memory Lane (May 9, 2015): Common Law Lawyers in Cameroon Call for a Return to Federalism

On May 9 2015, lawyers from the Common Law jurisdictions of Cameroon met in Bamenda to discuss "The security and future of the Common Law in Cameroon." During this inaugural Common Law lawyers' conference, the lawyers lamented about the steady erosion of Common law in Cameroon, the systemic Francophonization of courts in Anglophone Cameroon with the proliferation of French speaking magistrates who made oral and written submissions in French, and wrote their judgments in French in a region where the language of the courts and litigants was English.

The lawyers called for a scrupulous respect of Cameroon's bi-jural system and demanded that Common Law be full represented in all instances of the judicial system (from the School of Magistracy to the Supreme Court). Most significantly, they called for a return to a federal system of government without which it would not be possible to protect the history, heritage, education and cultural values of Cameroon's English speaking minority.

An Idiot's Guide to the Government of Cameroon's Response to Demands by Common Law Lawyers

Close to two years after the inaugural Cameroon Common Law Lawyers Conference in Bamenda, which called on the Government of Cameroon to respect the country's bicultural, bijural, and bilingual foundations, and to halt the "deliberate whittling away and replacement" of the Common Law system "with a system and culture of French-inspired or copied Civil Law"; nearly six months after Common Law lawyers went on strike due to repeated harassment and the Government's failure to acknowledge their demands; and some three months after the arrest and exiling of key members of the Cameroon Common Law Lawyers Conference, the Government of Cameroon finally conceded that the lawyers did in fact have a case after all. 

During a press conference in Yaounde on March 30, 2017, the Minister of Justice outlined a series of steps that the Government of Cameroon intended to implement in response to the demands of the common law lawyers. Scribbles from the Den has simplified the key points from the Minister's lengthy, and sometimes rambling and overly defensive introductory statement. Here is what the Government of Cameroon has committed to on paper:

A Day in Court in Biya’s Cameroon

By Edith Kah Walla

A first person account by the leader of Cameroon People's Party (CPP) on what happened today, March 23, 2017, at the Yaounde Military Tribunal where human rights lawyer Felix Nkongho Abgo-Balla, University lecturer Dr. Neba Fontem, radio host Bibixy Mancho, and 27 others are being tried on spurious terrorism charges.

Kah Walla at the Military Tribunal 

From 11:15 to 3:30 p.m. today, I decided to attend the court session at the military tribunal. Here are some of the key elements observed.

Agbor Balla, Fontem Neba and Mancho Bibixy have already been deprived of their liberty for 65 days. Unfortunately, today, no progress was made on their case.

Memory Lane (December 1992): Bamenda Erupts after 173 Detainees are "Kidnapped" to Yaounde

By Dibussi Tande

On December 23, 1992, the Bamenda High Court (in case No. HCB/19.CRM/92, Nyo Wakai and 172 others vs. the State of Cameroon) released 173 individuals who had been arrested during the state of emergency in the Northwest Province and held "under absolutely dehumanizing conditions and deteriorating in health and have hardly had any medical attention.”

The ruling by the Bamenda High Court infuriated the Biya regime because it went against the explicit instructions of the Minister of Justice and included an scathing condemnation of human rights abuses perpetrated by security forces during the state of emergency. A furious Minister of Justice insisted that the ruling was illegal because the Bamenda High Court was a court of “private jurisdiction” and the presiding judge, Justice Fombe, a “private judge” who was not competent to rule on “administrative (public) acts.” He therefore asked the Minister of Territorial Administration to suspend the release of the detainees.

The Management of Diversity and the Cry of Common Law Lawyers in Cameroon

 By Akere Muna*

"The time has therefore come for our nation to put into place a new paradigm for the management of our cultural diversity. That is the price we must pay to find the true unity we seek and through it the strength for which we clamor.

The legal system of Cameroon is bi-jural constitutionally, politically socially, culturally and intellectually. Disregarding this fact is an assault on the very foundation on which our nation is built.

While it is true that diversity might well create ambiguity complexity and even confusion, the danger of assimilation under the guise of harmonization now appears as a time bomb."

Forcing learned gentlemen of the law into the streets robed in their wigs and gowns is something no Government should wish for. Lawyers are the defenders of those without power, and the watchdogs of the rule of law. Citizens, who are witnesses to such a spectacle, will immediately feel fragile, and the existence of the rule of law in any country will immediately be questioned. As pictures of lawyers flooded the social media last November 08, 2016, and as I saw lawyers in the streets of Bamenda armed only with their ideas, their professional paraphernalia and the request for a dialogue, I wondered about the kind of denial that causes a few to think that because they shut their eyes nothing is happening; and that because they close their ears nothing is being said.

Memory Lane ( October 30, 1991): The Tripartite Conference Begins

Dibussi Tande

Thus, unable to force the government’s hand on the issue of a national conference, the opposition’s hope was that the tripartite conference could be transformed into a conference whose decisions on the access of political parties to the official media, the electoral code and a revision of the constitution would be binding and have the force of law – far short of the NCOPA’s initial demands, but a “mini sovereign national conference” of sorts…

On October 11, 1991, President Biya announced during a nationwide address that multiparty legislative elections would take place on February 17, 1992.

United before the fall: Opposition leaders during a rally in Yaoundé in 1991.

He also announced that a tripartite meeting between the government, opposition parties and members of the civil society would take place in Yaounde, under the patronage of the Prime Minister, to discuss the draft electoral code and the draft decree on the access of political parties to the official media. He declared that the decisions of the meeting would be binding on all.

By the time President Biya addressed the nation, the Ghost town and civil disobedience campaign initiated by the National Coordination of Opposition Parties  and Associations (NCOPA) had taken a heavy toll on the country’s economy with the state suffering a severe financial hemorrhage.

Memory Lane (August 17, 1991): Bello Bouba Returns to Cameroon after a Seven-Year Exile in Nigeria

On August 17, 1991, Yerima Bello Bouba Maigari, the co-founder of the UNDP who had all along insisted that he was merely a “simple militant,” ended his seven-year exile in the northern Nigerian city of Kaduna. He landed at the Douala international airport aboard a Nigerian Airways Boeing 737 at 1:05 p.m. and was received by thousands of UNDP militants led by their President Samuel Eboua.

On August 18, thousands of people wept with joy when the Cameroon Airlines Boeing 737 carrying “the pearl of the North” and  President-in-waiting landed at the Garoua airport at 11:45 a.m. True to his promise, former President Ahidjo’s “spiritual son” – who incarnated the hopes and aspirations of the Grand North which was itching to regain its rightful place on the national political scene and erase the "shame" of 1984 – had finally returned home.

An Overview and Full Text (English) of the New Cameroon Penal Code

By Dibussi Tande

President Paul Biya has signed into law, the bill relating to the (new) penal Code (Law No. 2016/007 of 12 July 2016).

Prior to its adoption by Parliament last June, the penal code bill was the target of widespread criticism from legal scholars, the Bar Council, civil society organizations and the general public because of a number of controversial provisions. Specifically targeted was the provision granting government ministers immunity from prosecution, along with other provisions punishing rent defaulters, criminalizing begging and adultery, and maintaining the death penalty.

Agro-Hub (Cameroon) Wins the 2016 Nestlé Creating Shared Value Prize

Nestlé has announced the winner of the Creating Shared Value Prize 2016. It is Agro-Hub from Cameroon. Nestlé CEO Paul Bulcke presented the CHF 300,000 prize (312,120.99 USD) to Agro-Hub at the Creating Shared Value Forum in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire.

The Nestlé Creating Shared Value Prize was launched to help business-oriented initiatives that address challenges in nutrition, water, or rural development, to scale-up or be replicated.

Through the prize, Nestlé rewards initiatives that reflect the spirit of Creating Shared Value, an approach any organisation can take to create economic returns by developing solutions to societal problems.

Memory Lane (May 5, 1991): President Biya Awarded Controversial Honorary Degree in the United States

In April 1991, the University of Maryland Eastern Shore in the United States announced that it had awarded President Paul Biya an honorary doctor of laws degree, and that the President would travel to the United States for the award ceremony.

This announcement was greeted with outrage particularly within the Cameroonian student community in the United States which launched a protest campaign through the Cameroon Students’ Association of the United States (CAMSA-USA).

[Video] Cameroonian Special Forces Take on Boko Haram Suicide Bombers

The far north region of Cameroon is frequently the target of deadly Boko Haram attacks, with the bombings most often perpetrated by suicide bombers. A team of FRANCE 24 journalists embedded with the Cameroonian army report from the front line as the troops battle the terrorist group.

 

Roll Call of Infamy (1): Boko Haram Suicide Bombings in Cameroon in 2015

By Dibussi Tande

In 2015, Boko Haram carried out 34 separate suicide attacks in Cameroon, killing about 200 people and injuring close to 400.

In July 2015, Boko Haram carried out its first ever suicide attack on Cameroonian soil. This event marked a new phase in Boko Haram’s ever-evolving strategy of confrontation with Cameroon.

Security forces carrying away a victim after the first Maroua attack (c) AFP

The first phase of that confrontation had been characterized by regular cross border incursions into Cameroon, with the first officially acknowledged incursion occurring on April 10 2012 in the town of Banki.

The second phase involved the kidnapping of locals and foreigners primarily for ransom. Some high-profile foreign captives included the Moulin-Fournier family, kidnapped in February 2013, Father Georges Vandenbeusch kidnapped in November 2013, two Italian priests and a Canadia nun captured in April 2014, and nine Chinese workers captured in May 2014. The most prominent Cameroonian captives included Françoise-Agnès Moukouri, wife of Cameroon’s Vice Prime Minister Ahmadou Ali, and Seini Boukar Lamine, the Lamido of Kolofata, both captured in July 2014 in Kolofata.

White House Press Secretary: No Combat Role for US Troops in Cameroon

"And so just to be clear about the U.S. military personnel that were deployed to Cameroon, they are armed but they are armed for the purposes of force protection and providing for their own security. They will not be there in a combat role but rather to provide force protection for -- to allow these airborne intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance operations to commence." Josh Earnest

 

White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest has clarified the role of the 300 US troops being deployed to Cameroon. Here are the relevant excerpts from yesterday's White House press briefing:

President Obama Deploys 300 Troops to Cameroon in War Against Boko Haram

Today, President Barack Obama sent a War Powers letter to Congress announcing the deployment of 300 U.S. Armed Forces personnel to Cameroon "with the consent of the Government of Cameroon." The letter notes that the forces will "conduct airborne intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance operations in the region."

Members of the U.S. Special Operations forces alongside soldiers from the 3rd Battalion Intervention Rapid (BIR) training together in Bamenda, Cameroon, on January 17, 2013. (Photo by Air Force Master Sgt. Larry W. Carpenter Jr.)

According to White House press secretary, Josh Earnest, the deployment "will be part of a broader regional effort to stop the spread of Boko Haram and other violent extremist organizations in West Africa." 

See below for the full text of the letter from the President to the Speaker of the House of Representatives and the President Pro Tempore of the Senate.

Cameroon: Governance Performance on the Decline According to Ibrahim Foundation

Early this week, the Mo Ibrahim Foundation released the Ibrahim Index of African Governance (IIAG) report for 2015. The report revealed that over the last four years, governance progress in Africa has stalled.

Published annually, the IIAG provides a comprehensive assessment of governance performance for each of the 54 African countries. The 2015 IIAG consists of 93 indicators which fall into four categories: Safety & Rule of Law, Participation & Human Rights, Sustainable Economic Opportunity and Human Development.

Patrice Nganang's Novel, "Mount Pleasant", Now Available on Pre-Order

Publication date set for 12 April 2016.

Patrice Nganang. (April 2016). Mount Pleasant. A Novel (Translated from French by Amy Baram Reid). Farrar Straus Giroux. 384 pages. Click here to pre-order your copy on Amazon. $26.00.

A lyrical tale of transformation in colonial Africa

In Cameroon in 1931, Sara is taken from her family and brought to Mount Pleasant as a gift for Sultan Njoya, the Bamum leader cast into exile by French colonialists. Just nine years old and on the verge of becoming one of the sultan's hundreds of wives, Sara's story takes an unexpected turn when she is recognized by Bertha, the slave in charge of training Njoya's brides, as Nebu, the son she lost tragically years before. In Sara's new life as a boy she bears witness to the world of Sultan Njoya--a magical yet declining place of artistic and intellectual minds--and hears the story of the sultan's last days in the Palace of All Dreams and of the sad fate of Nebu, the greatest artist their culture had seen.

Imbolo Mbue's "Million-Dollar" Novel "Behold the Dreamers" Now Available on Preorder

Imbolo Mbue. (March 15, 2016). Behold the Dreamers: A Novel. New York: Random House, 384 pages. Formats: Ebook, Audio, Hardcover. Available on pre-order on Amazon and Barnes & Noble.

It was destined to be a debut novel like no other from the moment word came out of the 2014 Frankfurt Book Fair that American publishing giant, Random House, had signed a seven-figure deal for the North American rights to The Longings of Jende Jonga, a novel by Cameroonian writer Imbolo Mbue – a record by any measure, and particularly so for an unpublished African writer unknown within the African or American literary community. 

With no previous published work and virtually no social media footprint, Internet sleuths were unable to dig up any worthwhile information about this mystery novelist described by her agent, Susan Golomb, as "part of the new generation of African writers just being discovered." Ainehi Edoro of Brittle Paper best captured the prevailing mood within the (African) literary community when she wrote that: "If you’re like me, you probably curious about her writing. What does the writing of a million-dollar debut novelist look like?"

Maroua the Martyr [A Poem]

By Dibussi Tande

Beautiful offspring of the Sahel
Land of shifting sands and shaded streets
Land of Bilbil, Couscous and Folléré
Land of overflowing hospitality
Maroua the beautiful
Boko Haram’s unwilling lover…

We hear your cries of distress
Echoing across the Mandara mountains
We see your tears of desperation
Flowing down the Mayo Kaliao river
We hear your howls of anguish
Thundering down Mount Maroua
We shudder at the woeful wails
Of your hapless children
As your leaves turn into petals of blood

Memory Lane (May 26, 1990): The Social Democratic Front (SDF) is Launched in Blood and Tears

By Dibussi Tande

Thanks to its stand-off with government and the sympathy generated by the Bamenda incident, the SDF was able to successfully present itself as a credible alternative to the ruling CPDM. The party’s launching also mobilized political activists, particularly those in exile, who began thinking of creating other political parties.

On March 16, 1990, barely six days after the Biya regime insisted that multipartyism was not illegal in Cameroon, John Fru Ndi, a Bamenda-based bookseller, and Dr. Siga Assanga, a lecturer at the University of Yaounde, submitted an application with the Mezam divisional office seeking authorization for a political party called the Social Democratic Front (SDF).

Although the application was in direct response to the government’s declaration that multipartyism was not proscribed in Cameroon, the SDF had actually been in gestation months before the Yondo affair.

Memory Lane (May 26, 1990): The Launching of the SDF in Pictures

Here in pictures, the May 26, 1990 launching of the Social Democratic Front (SDF) in Bamenda which ended with the death of six individuals - Fidelis Chosi Mankam (Corn Mill Operator), Tifuh Mathias Teboh (Student), Asanji Christopher Fombi (Student), Nfon Edwin Jatop (Tailor), Juliette Sikod (Student), and Toje Evaristus Chatum (Student) - killed by security forces who had been dispatched to Bamenda to prevent the "illegal march" by any means necessary.

 

Memory Lane (May 26, 1990): University Students Organize Pro-Democracy Rally... and "Betray the Nation"

By Dibussi Tande

In Cameroonian politics, linking “les anglophones” with “le Nigeria” or “un pays voisin” in times of crisis is not an innocent act; it is a powerful tool for demonization and exclusion which is meant to conjure images of the Biafrazation of the country; of a fifth column serving the interests of Nigeria rather than Cameroon’s; and of a powerful neighbor busy manipulating the “Anglophone Trojan horse” to its advantage.

On May 26, 1990, Cameroonians apprehensively awaited the outcome of the inevitable confrontation between the Social Democratic Front (SDF) and the Biya regime in Bamenda. Officials of the SDF, a political party created a couple of months earlier, decided to officially launch the party in Bamenda on this day, in spite of a government order formally banning the event on grounds that the SDF was an illegal organization – a view not shared by SDF members and sympathizers who were determined to go ahead with the launching come what may.

In response, the government flooded Bamenda with troops whose mission was to to crackdown on any SDF-led public manifestation as thousands of SDF sympathizers from all over the Northwest province and beyond converge on the city under siege.

Memory Lane (May 26, 1990): John Fru Ndi's Speech at the Launching of SDF

Speech delivered by Ni John Fru Ndi, National Chairman on the occasion of the launching of the Social Democratic Front, SDF, on May 26th 1990 at Ntarinkon Motor Park, Bamenda.

"But what we see today is that African leaders have cultivated the tendency of using the vocabulary of democracy to conceal modern forms of dictatorship. It is against this dictatorship and oppression that we join the battle with anyone, and we assure you today that we shall emerge victorious."

Fellow Cameroonians!

Today is the most significant day in the struggle for DEMOCRACY in Cameroon. You are here in your numbers because you do not only have faith in democracy but more so because you are determined to ensure that it works in Cameroon.

[Video] On the Frontline of Cameroon's War With Boko Haram

“Since the beginning of this year, the Cameroonian army has brought a modicum of peace; kidnappings and killings have decreased, but, until Nigerian forces take full control of Boko Haram areas, people in Cameroon's Far North will never feel safe from the men in caves across the border.”

Government forces in Nigeria have been on the front foot in recent weeks, winning back a series of villages from the Islamist militant group, Boko Haram. But their advance has not been without cost to their neighbours. Here is a Channel 4 News (UK) report from Northern Cameroon.

 

Click here for an article based on the Channel 4 News report in Northern Cameroon.

[Poetry] The Revolt of the Children of a Lesser God - Baltimore Today, LA Yesterday...

As Baltimore burns over the death of Freddie Gray, we're once again reminded that today's reality is simply history repeating itself in a different form. Here, for example, is a poem that I wrote on April 30, 1992 (exactly 23 years today) during the second day of the LA riots which erupted after the acquittal of four LAPD officers who had beaten Rodney King to a pulp a year earlier during a traffic incident.

 I bet that today, someone somewhere is writing a similar poem, this time about Freddie Gray and about Baltimore...

Memory Lane (January 2006): President Biya Defends Clandestine Migration to Europe

Excerpt of Speech by H.E. Paul BIYA, President of the Republic of Cameroon, in Response to New Year Wishes from the Diplomatic Corps in Yaoundé, January 6, 2006. (My Translation. The French original follows).

"I cannot ignore an issue that affects relations between African countries and the rest of the world, particularly Europe. I am talking about what is commonly referred to as "illegal immigration". Indeed, every year, thousands of African attempt to make it to Europe on their own, often at the risk of their lives. Some make it. The majority do not, with the human tragedy that this involves as we saw recently.

It is necessary to ask ourselves this question: Why do these Africans, young people for the most part, leave their families and their countries? Obviously in search of a better life. In this respect, let us remember that during the second half of the 19th century, millions of Europeans, driven by misery and famine and displaced by conflict, crossed the Atlantic in search of a new life. I am simply saying that this spontaneous emigration of thousands of Africans is similar. 

Memory Lane (April 1984): Rare Audio Files from Coup Attempt in Cameroon

Find below a playlist containing two rare audio files. The first is the radio broadcast by 2nd Lt Yaya Adoum announcing the April 6, 1984 coup attempt in Cameroon, while the second is President Biya's nationwide address after the coup attempt was crushed by loyalist forces.

 
Click here to read the April 6, 1984 coup proclamation in English.

GoodLuck Jonathan: "I promised the country free and fair elections. I have kept my word."

Full text of the concession statement by outgoing Nigerian President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan after his defeat in the 2015 Presidential elections. 

Fellow Nigerians,

I thank you all for turning out en-masse for the March 28 General Elections.

I promised the country free and fair elections. I have kept my word. I have also expanded the space for Nigerians to participate in the democratic process. That is one legacy I will like to see endure.

Although some people have expressed mixed feelings about the results announced by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), I urge those who may feel aggrieved to follow due process based on our constitution and our electoral laws, in seeking redress.

[Video] Fotokol: Boko Haram Massacre Survivors Share their Ordeal

 

Click here for a selection of live tweets and Twitter commentary during the attack on Fotokol.

Cameroon Bloggers Launch #StopBokoHaram Campaign

Cameroonian bloggers working under the banner of the Cameroon Bloggers Association have launched a campaign to mobilize the Cameroonian public around the urgency of defeating the Islamist terrorist group Boko Haram. The goal of the campaign is threefold: highlight the threat posed by the terrorist group in Cameroon, show support for Cameroonian troops who have so far held back the Boko Haram onslaught, and express solidarity with the people of the North region who have been hardest hit by Boko Haram.

The first part of the campaign will be primarily online and begins today, January 19, 2015, with bloggers publishing articles on various aspects of the fight against Hoko Haram and encouraging Cameroonians on social media to replace their Twitter profile pictures and Facebook cover and profile pictures with special banners and buttons specifically created for the campaign. The campaign organizers also hope to engage a worldwide audience on twitter using the #StopBokoHaram hashtag.

The second phase of the campaign will include activities on the ground in Cameroon.

To download banner, click on image below for a full size pop-up, then right click on pop-up image.

Staving off Boko Haram: Why Cameroon Must Unilaterally Exercise the Right of Hot Pursuit (Part 2)

By Dibussi Tande

Click here to read Part 1

Impact of Boko Haram Insurgency on (Northern) Cameroon
Whatever the reasons for the failure of Nigeria’s military campaign against Boko Haram, the consequences have been disastrous for Cameroon, with the Far North region bearing the brunt of the group’s indiscriminate savagery. The Cameroon side of the border with Borno state is now dotted with ghost villages, many razed to the ground by Boko Haram or simply abandoned by frightened inhabitants who now make up the estimated 30,000 internally displaced persons in the region. In addition, over 100 schools remain closed since the beginning of the 2014/2015 academic year.

A bridge connecting Nigeria and Cameroon destroyed by Boko Haram insurgents in May 2014 (c) AFP

Boko Haram’s attacks have brought the once thriving economy of the “Grand North” to a screeching halt. The economic downturn in the region which began in 2012 had by June 2014 become a full-fledged economic crisis. According to Rene Sadi, Cameroon’s Minister of Territorial Administration,

Staving off Boko Haram: Why Cameroon Must Unilaterally Exercise the Right of Hot Pursuit (Part 1)

By Dibussi Tande

Cameroon can no longer remain on the defensive under the guise of respecting a neighbor’s sovereignty and territorial integrity when there is no effective sovereign on the other side of the border, and when that neighbor’s territory is being occupied by a mutual enemy.

Funeral procession of 26 Cameroonian soldiers who died during clashes with Boko Haram in the Far North region in August 2014 (c) LCCLC Facebook page.

During the May 2014 Paris Summit on security in Nigeria, Cameroon’s president Paul Biya, along with other leaders from the region, declared total war on the Nigerian Islamist terrorist group Boko Haram following a series of high profile kidnappings of foreign nationals in Cameroon and the kidnapping of over 200 school girls from the town of Chibok in Nigeria. That declaration of war seemed to have had the opposite effect as Boko Haram stepped up its attacks on Cameroon. In fact, the Paris summit had barely begun when about 200 Boko Haram militants carried out an unprecedented attack on Cameroonian soil, kidnapping 10 Chinese engineers in the town of Waza.

Full Text (English): Law on the Suppression of Acts of Terrorism in Cameroon

Here is the full text in English of Law No. 2014/028 of 23 December 2014 on the suppression of acts of terrorism:

Members of Cameroon's Rapid Intervention Battalion practice their marksmanships skills (U.S. Marine Corps photo by Sgt. Elsa Portillo).

CHAPTER 1 GENERAL PROVISIONS

SECTION I: PURPOSE AND SCOPE

1. This law relates to the suppression of acts of terrorism
2. The provisions of the penal code, the criminal procedure code and the military justice code that are not repugnant to this law shall remain applicable.
3. The offences provided for in this; law shall fall exclusively under the jurisdiction of military tribunals.

[Music Review] Reflection: The Confident First Steps of a Budding Afro-Soul Star

A review by Dibussi Tande

Artist: Daphne
EP: Reflection
Label: Stevens Music Entertainment
Genres: World, Afro-Soul, Reggae
Released: November 2014
Available on: iTunes, Amazon, and Google Play

In an era where anyone with a catchy hook and access to a voice processor can be promoted as the next big recording artist by a horde of eager promoters and fawning supporters, buying into the social media hype and hysteria surrounding the pre-release of new songs and albums is generally a recipe for disappointment. The budding Cameroonian urban music scene, for example, is replete with a dizzying number of songs and artists who promised more than they delivered and then faded into oblivion - or stubbornly stayed around to the dismay of the listening public. Once in a while, however, an artist comes along who actually lives up to the hype.

Memory Lane (Nov. 4 & 6 1982): Ahidjo Resigns, Paul Biya is Sworn In (Audio)

On November 4, 1982, Ahmadou Ahidjo, president of the United Republic of Cameroon resigned from office and handed over to his Prime Minister, Paul Biya, who was sworn in on November 6, 1982. In this audio excerpt, we listen, first, to Ahidjo announcing his resignation in a speech to the nation, then to Biya being sworn in as President of the Republic by Solomon Tandeng Muna, Speaker of the National Assembly.

 

[Podcast] Pamela Anchang: Giving Voice To Immigrant Communities in the US

 

[Interview] Mola Njoh Litumbe: Union between Southern Cameroons & La Republique du Cameroun is Illegal

In this fiery Cameroon Radio Television (CRTV) interview, Mola Njoh Litumbe explains why the 1961 (re)unification between the British Southern Cameroons and the French-speaking "La Republique du Cameroon" remains an unconsummated act, an illegal union.

This interview was broadcast during the Feb. 23, 2014 special edition of "Cameroon Calling" dedicated to the union of the two Cameroons.