Good evening. The People’s Weekly Briefing with the Spokesperson of the Ambazonia Governing Council, AGovC. My name is Akoson Raymond and today is Sunday February 28, 2021.

ONE: The Ambazonia Governing Council is gravely appalled but not surprised by the February 26, 2021 report of the Human Rights Watch on compounding rights violation in Ambazonia. The report indicts Cameroon for crime of rape of at least twenty women including four with disabilities, crime of arbitrary arrests, incommunicado detention, systematic torture, crimes of genocide, forced labor, extrajudicial killings, ethnic cleansing, enforced disappearances, deaths in custody, and other crimes against humanity – all committed last year – on March 1, 2020 in Ebam village, Manyu, Atlantic State.

While the AGovC thanks Human Rights Watch for this report, we note that these crimes are not isolated to Ebam alone nor to other few spots documented by HRW. We fear that atrocities committed by Cameroon in Ambazonia are heavily underreported. Crimes of genocide, and ethnic cleansing are characteristic daily occurrences on every corner of Ambazonia by Cameroon occupation forces.

The international community is failing woefully in calling genocide by its name and in favorably responding to the AGovC’s call for the invocation of the Responsibility to Protect. This failure is magnified when we recall that Cameroon is a sitting Council member of the UN Human Rights Council, a council that is meant to uphold the highest standards of human rights. We call upon states to give the situation in Ambazonia the response it deserves. The credibility and integrity of the international system depends on this.

TWO: In diplomacy, the Ambazonia Governing Council takes cognizant of a letter signed by forty members of the US Congress to the Biden Administration urging the US Executive Branch of Government to issue all Ambazonians in America with either one of the following: a TPS – Temporary Protected Status or DED – Deferred Enforced Departure for Cameroon.

The US Congress created Temporary Protected Status (TPS) in the Immigration Act of 1990. It is a temporary immigration status provided to nationals of specifically designated countries that are confronting an ongoing armed conflict, environmental disaster, or extraordinary and temporary conditions. On the other hand, Deferred Enforced Departure (DED) was established to provide the US President with a vital tool in U.S. foreign policy and is also used to protect foreign nationals in the United States from civil, political and humanitarian crises in their home country that make it unsafe for them to return, or whose suspension of deportation serves other United States foreign policy or domestic interests.

Deferred Enforced Departure, DED provides similar protections as Temporary Protected Status, but DED does not require a registration process and is triggered when an individual is identified for removal. Both DED and TPS provide a work permit and stay of deportation to foreign nationals from those countries who are in the United States at the time the U.S. government makes the designation. While the AGovC applauds this effort and thanks the US Congressmen and women concerned, we believe that a TPS status for Ambazonians is only a stopgap measure and not a long-term solution. The United States of America has the might to browbeat Cameroon into negotiations with the People of Ambazonia towards addressing the root cause of the Ambazonia Liberation War.

THREE: In defense, the Ambazonia Governing Council is announcing that the War Council has completed its investigation on the root cause of the skirmishes between the people of Kom and the non-ADF restoration fighters in Boyo. The excesses of the Abu camp is to blame. The War Council is enlisting experts to recreate trust between the local population and Ambazonia Restoration forces in Boyo. The AGovC informs the people of Boyo that the ADF forces stand ready to assist with personnel and logistics toward revitalizing Ambazonian control of the entire Boyo state. Meanwhile, the AGovC urges the people of Kom to refuse being manipulated by enablers and Cameroon apologists scheming to prey on the misunderstanding between them and restoration fighters.

Still in defense, the Deputy Defense Chair, DDC of the Ambazonia War Council, Mr. Ndong Emmanuel returns from a safe and successful trip to Ambazonia. DDC Capo Daniel was in Ambazonia to oversea the launch of the National Stabilization force. DDC Capo Daniel made several stops in both the Atlantic and Savannah States of Ambazonia. Apart from its equilibrium effect, the stabilization force was created to conjure images of sovereignty with international ramifications. During the commissioning, command, control and organization were clearly demonstrated. The characteristics for the very existence and recognition of a state were emphasized:

Ambazonian State symbols were patriotically exhibited by our forces, control of territory showcased and a defined population presented. The mission of the stabilization force is to stabilize the liberated communities, create a sense of ownership of homeland, and to imbue confidence and ultimately send a message to Cameroon that as months roll by, Ambazonians get more determined, more organized and more equipped than ever before.

Meanwhile, the AGovC President has congratulated the Ambazonia War Council for the powerful manifestation of the stabilization force launch. Dr. Ayaba will be reaching out to all Ambazonians of good faith as we enter phase two of the stabilization project. The AGovC calls on all Ambazonians to celebrate and own the Stabilization force project by making a financial commitment on www.ttof.net. The AGovC anticipates that by October 1, 2021, every Ambazonian community would be proud of many more thousands of well trained and well-armed men and women across key strategic pillars.

And still in defense, 

Still in Defense and on a sad note, the Ambazonia Governing Council relays this sad episode from the War Council. Today, February 28, 2021, the Chairperson of the War Council, Benedict Kuah is officially announcing the passing unto glory of General Hassan of Bui. General Hassan fell in battle on February 27, 2021 defending the territorial integrity of Ambazonia. He was the overall commander of the Ambazonia Defense Forces, ADF in Kumbo. Over five-hundred occupation forces churned out of Cameroon’s Kutaba military base attacked the Yelum military camp of the ADF.

In a gun battle lasting more than ten hours, General Hassan sustained multiple injuries. He was immediately extracted from the battlefield by other elements of the ADF Yelum base. He died minutes later receiving medical care in the bosom of other ADF freedom fighters.

The hearts of the AGovC and War Council families go out to the family, friends and loved ones of General Hassan. The President of the Ambazonia Governing Council, Dr. Ayaba Cho Lucas has instructed the War Council to cause the Ambazonian flag in all ADF and sister military camps across Ambazonia to fly at half-mast for a duration of one week beginning effective immediately. In the meantime, the Ambazonia War Council is appointing Colonel Kumbo to lead the Kumbo Brigade. 

Finally, on the state of the Ambazonia Liberation War in Lebialem.

The Leadership of the Ambazonia Governing Council is privy to minutes of a meeting organized by elites of the Lebialem community concerning the killing of three Lebialem chiefs. The AGovC extends its heartfelt condolences to the families affected. We equally ask that the people of Lebialem engage in collaborative efforts more. The AGovC believes that there is no better time for defense collaboration in Lebialem than now.

More Lebialem elites are encouraged to support a strong defense stabilized force that seeks to protect the civilian population from Cameroons terrorism and ethnic cleansing. In the meantime, in times like this, it is important for us to remember that in flagrant violation of international law, Cameroon marched an army of occupation into the erstwhile British Southern Cameroons (now called Ambazonia) in the hours preceding October 1, 1961 and has been in colonial occupation of Ambazonia to this day. In 2016, the people of Ambazonia rose in peaceful nationwide protest to challenge Cameroon’s claim of ownership over the territory of Ambazonia. But as the Ambazonia Governing Council prognosticated, Cameroon’s reaction was ruthless and violent, akin to a wicked master delightfully crushing a captured slave for daring to ask questions as to the legality of slavery.

On November 17, 2019, Africa’s longest serving president, Cameroon’s cold-hearted dictator Paul Biya declared war on Ambazonia, a war that continues to leave scars of horrible human rights violations including inter alia crimes of genocide, forced return of refugees, forced labor, extrajudicial killings, ethnic cleansing, enforced disappearances, arbitrary arrests, incommunicado detention, systematic torture, and deaths in custody.

The Ambazonia Governing Council invoked the rights of the people of Ambazonia to self-defence and self-determination. Consequently, the Ambazonia Defense Forces, ADF was born.

But Cameroon would launch a smear campaign to sell a negative image of the ADF by injecting splinter groups based within and without Ambazonia with the sole intent of committing crimes aimed at tarnishing the good image of a genuine liberation war. Therefore, the responsibility of such and all other war crimes in Ambazonia including but not limited to crimes of colonialism, crimes against humanity, genocide and ethnic cleansing rest squarely on the aggressor State of Cameroun and its current leaders.