OJ SLIM MEDIA

  Hopes for lasting peace in Cameroon are soaring. Few days back, a Tweet from @canadaCameroon raised the hopes of many Cameroonians especially those living the war-torn areas of the North-West and South-West Regions. In Wum like in Gayama, Bamunka. Bali, Alou, Eyoumodjock and Lebialem, just to name these few areas, the population on Ground Zero heaved a deep sigh of relief and can only pray hard for the success of this Canadian move. The Tweet that raised hopes. This Canadian move offers an ambitious approach to negotiating with armed groups, coming out with a blueprint of peace accords, and pursuing national unity amid debilitating socio-political polarization. The protagonists are standing before an undeniable opportunity to lay the foundation to end the six-years conflict, even if subsequent governments will have to sustain these efforts to truly reap the long-term benefits. The Canadian move will seek to lay the foundation for bringing the Cameroon’s six years Anglophone long ...

  Bihndumlem Humanitarian Association of Peace and Hope (BIHAPH) together with partners have launched a 6month project focused on Providing Space for an Increased Citizen Participation and Civic Engagement, as major tools for Conflict Transformation and Peace Building in the Bamenda I, II and III Sub-Divisions with the North West Region. Launched in the presence of over 200 local community leaders and actors, the project aims at reducing the rate of violence and enhance the participation of Community members in peace Building in the NWR using a Bottom-Top approach. BIHAPH will in the next couple of months support actions in the communities that are geared towards Building peace while encouraging and promoting Communities advocating for peace. Mme Mih Bibiana Executive Director BIHAPH According to the Executive Director of BIHAPH, Mih Bibiana Mbei DIGHAMBONG, the motivation of BIHAPH and partners stem from the prolonged crisis within the NWR where communities currently live in...

  After a survey carried out to situate the population of Bamenda one, two and three, perception and attitude towards Peacebuilding and human rights in the context of the Anglophone crisis, a data has been released by Charmers Media and Communication Consults CHAMECC, to over 30 individuals in the presence of the Delegate of women's empowerment for the North West Region, with the purpose of recommendations that can bring lasting peace to the region.     As stated by Mr. Nji Blasius, founder of CHAMECC while giving a brief presentation on the background of the project to participants, he said "The survey falls under a one year project. We had to carry out a series of activities like radio program, publications and now surveys to get the impact of the crisis on the population. We trained ten volunteers to administer questionnaires in Bamenda 1, 2, and three for a month. The aim of this project was to get the opinions of people at the Grassroots and use the data to find ...

Over 30 journalists and bloggers, drawn from the North-West Region, have been drilled on reporting in armed conflict and advocacy on the protection of rights of civilians in armed conflict in line with international humanitarian laws as enshrined in the Geneva Conventions of 12 August 1949. * Aimed at equipping journalists with the skills they need to carry out their role in crisis reporting, and how they can use their various media outlets to advocate for an effective and efficient humanitarian coverage of the ongoing anglophone crisis, the workshop provided participants the opportunity to work towards advocacy actions on the protection of the rights of civilians in the context of the armed conflict rocking the two Anglophone regions and also, to evaluate the humanitarian response system in Cameroon, comparatively with what entails elsewhere.   The workshop also aimed at improving skills of citizen journalists towards a more professional reporting, by engaging them to capture an...

Herman J. Cohen is the former assistant secretary of state for African affairs (1989–1993), the former U.S. ambassador to the Gambia and Senegal (1977–80), and was a member of the U.S. Foreign Service for thirty-eight years. The Council for Foreign Affairs | The violent conflict in Cameroon, still rarely discussed in Washington, is becoming increasingly dire. Both President Paul Biya’s Francophone regime in Yaounde and the Anglophone separatists in the southwest region are accused of brutal human rights abuses, including the burning of villages, attacks on schools, and the killing of men, women, and children. Despite mediation attempts by the Swiss government and sanctions by the Trump administration, there are no signs of any progress towards a negotiated settlement. In 1991, I mediated an end to a different African conflict with some striking similarities: the Eritrean war of independence, which raged for nearly three decades. Lessons from that precedent offer clues to a po...

VOA| A chartered plane from the Nigerian city of Lagos landed at Yaounde’s international airport late Tuesday with 87 Cameroonian asylum-seekers and former separatists on board. The group of mainly women and children was the first to return to Cameroon after fleeing to Nigeria to escape fighting between government troops and separatists in Cameroon’s troubled western regions. Cameroon authorities say they returned voluntarily under an agreement with Nigeria and that at least 700 asylum-seekers and rebels are expected to return before the end of February. Marie Nash, 29, fled the English-speaking southwestern town of Mamfe two years ago when fighting first broke out, but returned amid renewed talk of peace. “Because of the war, I have experienced a lot of things,” she said. “I just thank God because they want to bring peace to Cameroon, and I am very happy for that. I want everybody to come back so that we should not fight again. Let us make peace.” Among the ...

The Republic of Cameroon has been in turmoil for about three years over the agitation by the people of Southern Cameroon to become an independent state. In this chat, veteran human rights activist and lawyer, Hon. Abdul Oroh share with ONWUKA NZESHI,  some  perspectives of  the political crisis What is the update on the Cameroonian leaders deported by Nigeria? When about 12 leaders of the Southern Cameron Resistance were arrested at Nera Hotel, Alex Ekwueme Street,  Jabi,  Abuja, on January 5, 2018, I was contacted by a member of the family to file a court action to enforce their fundamental rights. Mr. Femi Falana was also contacted and we now teamed up to work together for their release.  First of all, we went to various security agencies in Abuja to identify where they were being detained, We also approached the United Nations  High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR )in Abuja.  Eventually, we got to know that they were detai...

HE Paul Biya President of The Republic of Cameroon Cameroon's Head of State, President Paul Biya has promised tougher days for Non-State Armed Group seeking to make of the country’s North West and South West Regions an independent country christened Ambazonia. Speaking in a televised address to the nation Tuesday, December 31, 2019, President Paul Biya said the country’s military will fight in all professionalism to protect all citizens. “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,” Biya warned. He however agreed that without a doubt, the security situation in the North West and South West regions is one of the most urgent problems at the moment. He regrett...

 The Governor of the North west Region H.E Adolphe Lele Lafrique on Tuesday December 31, 2019 handed over to IDPs in Bamenda and some Nursing mothers at the Bamenda Regional hospital the gift from presidential couple.  Tuesday December 31, the last day in the year 2019, was a very a busy day for the chief Executive Officer of the Region Adolphe Lele Lafrique as move around the town to distribute the presidential gift of relief materials to some internally displaced persons. The first stop for the distribution was at the esplanade of the Governor's office, here about a thousand families had gathered to received the gift from the president of the Republic . The first 300 families out of the 40,000 families who are expected to benefit from the gift in Region, where served by the Governor. At the end of the exercise, the Governor made the following remark;   "I have started giving out the special gift from the Presidential couple to the IDPs in the North We...