Brewing Post-Electoral Violence in Cameroun

By Innocent Chia
Beyond midway from voting on Sunday, October 9, 2011 and next Sunday, October 23 when results of Cameroon’s Presidential elections are expected, credit has to be given to the Biya rigging machine – in cahoots with the non-descript and hollow ELECAM – for the wholesale bribery of opposition leaders. The scheme that advanced 50 percent of campaign funds before elections, and a promissory note to pay the other half post electorally, not only pinched most of the already cash-strapped opposition; it guaranteed a staying power for the mendicant and sucked the oxygen out of any pipedreams for a united opposition front. But the greatest coup yet by the Biya camp may be the messianic victories that he is getting, thanks to simulated citizens like Lady Kate Njeuma, from the recently enfranchised and controversial Diaspora.

Shortly after the close of polls in the couple of US cities where eligible Cameroonians could cast their votes for the 2011 Presidential elections, ascending philanthropist and socialite “Lady Kate"Atabong Njeuma declared an overwhelming victory for their (CPDM) candidate, Paul Biya. Since that posting on multiple Cameroun yahoo groups - wherein the jack-of-all-trades has networked herself under the guise of Miss Africa USA pageant organizer – many Cameroonians resident in the United States have been questioning her apparent exercise of dual citizenship status contrary to Cameroun law.

As much as a recent missive from Lady Kate denies voting in the last elections, opponents are quick to point to her active militancy within the CPDM and her avowed support of the failed regime and policies of Paul Biya. Even more seriously, Kate Atabong Njeuma has become the acting assistant of the Cameroun Ambassador to the US as per her following mail regarding voter registration…

From: Limbediva <LIMBEDIVA@aol.com>
To: LIMBEDIVA@aol.com
Sent: Tuesday, August 9, 2011 6:25 PM
Subject: CAMSA-USA OFFICIAL: VOTER REGISTRATION BEGINS AT CAMEROON EMBASSY WASHINGTON, PLEASE SPREAD THE WORD, SIMPLY FORWARD THIS MESSAGE [1 Attachment]
 Fellow Cameroonians,

This is an official Communique from His Excellency, Ambassador Joseph Charles Bienvenu Foe-Atanga,
the Ambassador of Cameroon to the United States of America, informing the entire Cameroon Community in the United States about the Voter registration process.

Officials of ELECAM have set up offices at the Embassy to implement this process. Please see the attached official document from the Ambassador to this effect.

As good citizens of our country, let us share this information so that no Cameroonian is left uninformed of the process.

Sincerely
______________________
Lady Kate Atabong Njeuma
Maryland
240 440 2166

Whatever the case be, it cannot be lost on the observer that premature US poll results are favoring Biya so far. According to Lady Kate Njeuma and other Embassy insiders, 90 percent of registered Cameroonians in the US voted for Biya. If so, the following question begs to be asked: What are they (the 90%) doing in the US?

It is a question that I asked myself over a year ago after Lady Kate Njeuma began an opinionated crusade for Biya as the best ruler for Cameroon. Back then, it was not the question of dual citizenship that has consumed the current shouting match. It simply beat my imagination that one with such first class education, world travel, and experience (not that any of that matters when family loyalty to the King is involved) would look down with such contempt on her people as to opine that Biya was the best thing that happened to Cameroon since slice bread was invented. Would you not be back in Cameroon if you believed Biya had great policies?

Indeed, I like it most when there is a silent acknowledgement that greener pastures are the only reason keeping the Biya supporters from returning to Cameroon. So then, I wonder what kind of greatness is ascribed to Biya if his policies cannot create jobs. 29 years of rule and Kate Njeuma believes that the dinosaurs’ better days are ahead…

But I could also understand the warped sense of reasoning that would justify any support of candidate Biya: The ease with which opposition figurines are baited certainly accentuates the mendacity and ill-preparedness to lead the country from the present path of despair and hopelessness to one of prospect and promise. Biya understands the pauper state of many “opposition” parties to the point that he, like a dog owner holding back a bone until the dog behaves well, is able to control post-electoral reactions by holding a bone up for the dog – 50 percent campaign funds after elections.

Any human being with a brain the size of a bird’s will want to know what they are supposed to be doing with campaign funds after campaigns are over? But do not forget that this is Cameroon – where the Minister of Communications (government spokesman) is a self-described opposition leader. The question is: what is the goal of your political party? Did you create a party to be a spokesperson for another political party leader or you created a party to seize over power? It becomes abundantly clear that opposition parties and party leaders mushroom during Presidential elections in Cameroon for personal gain and in order to legitimize Biya’s perpetuity at the headship.

One only needs to see how many of these “opposition” party leaders eventually join Biya on the eve of the ballot to form the “presidential majority”. If the past is any judge of how the future will look like, Biya has often rewarded “opposition” leaders who join his “majority” with government positions – Augustin Koddock of the UPC, Bello Bouba Maigari of the UNDP…etc, etc.

Sick and tired of the promises - the staggering unemployment among youths, the complacence and complicity among the ruling elite to perpetuate misery among the poor and disenfranchised - some Cameroonians are now resorting to violence. Reports indicate that fears of post-electoral violence are at the behest of an invitation of a top retired French intelligence hand to Cameroon. It is true that the way the Arab spring has ignited on the least flammable material is cause for concern. But I bet nothing quite scares the Biya regime like these emerging and chilling claims of responsibility from The Commando Alliance Brotherhood of Cameroun.

The Commando Alliance Brotherhood of Cameroun
Douala, Sunday October 09, 2011
To:    All Cameroun News outlets
       International Media
       Belgian Consulate Yaoundé
                                                    Claim of Responsibility
We the Commando Alliance Brotherhood for the Liberation of Cameroun, hereby claim responsibility for the killing of Two (2) police officers at Isangele pooling stations (Bakassi) on this Election Day. The DO, SDO and administrators are also requested to leave before they find it too late. No amount of your soldiers (scouts) deployed will deter us.
This is just the beginning as Biya, ELECAM and his cronies had officially  declared war in Cameroun. The Cameroun police force, Gendarmes and Army are all warned not to attempt opening fire on any demonstrators because we know where you and your families live and will retaliate with impunity and severity.
On the international front, we call on the Belgian authorities to immediately release and without preconditions any Camerounians arrested in Brussels on administrative orders. If they’re not immediately released, the Belgian    diplomatic community in Cameroun will pay a huge and ultimate price.
We advise all Camerounians to stay at their homes in the coming weeks as  payback time for Biya and his security agents is around the corner. The Tsunami has been unleashed and is heading towards all directions.
‘The strongest is never strong enough to be always the master...’
 
 Done in Douala today October 09, 2011

Annex/Attachment
--
The Commando Alliance Brotherhood of Cameroun 
                                                             Claim of Responsibility
We the Commando Alliance Brotherhood for the Liberation of Cameroun, hereby claim responsibility for yesterday’s Thursday September 29, 2011 gun incident on the Bonaberi Bridge over the Wouri River. Claims from the Cameroun government and military, that the architects of this incident have been arrested are all FALSE. Let it be known that all our commandos returned to base safely after their successful operation. We also claim responsibility for planting grenades in ELECAM branch office in Limbe-Southwest Region Cameroun.

Where this is going is anyone’s guess. Several years ago I wrote a piece advocating a paradigm by which kids and family must be the first and last barrier to hold parents and loved ones accountable for their actions/excesses. The fear expressed then, and unfortunately crystallized today through these claims of responsibility, was that the alternative was going to be bloody bloody. May be it is time for the Lady and her peers to really go and strategize for Biya and verily reap the fruits of their labor. The truth of the matter, it seems to me, is that the strategy of benefiting from American citizenship while campaigning for dictator Biya in Cameroon or elsewhere, predisposes such individual(s) to be held as accomplices to Biya's crimes against humanity.

Comments

[victor malloy junior]

Cameroonians who undestand and can feel the pinch of the Biya oligarchy must rise up like one man and cut the head of this hydra.It took one unemployed Graduate vegetable seller to spark the revolution in Tunisia.If cameroon is to be free from this tyrant,We have got to take it by force.The strategy is easy.All those who are acomplice to this government,incuding Lady Njeuma Atabong of USA, SHOULD BE TARGETED...Same fate should befall all those in Government positions at home.Somehow we must register our protest to this inhuman regime.

[Grassland man]

Miss Lady Kate Audition video to Biya.She loves the spotlight and always finds a way to get it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sRoNzpkK51Y

copy link and paste to browser if needed.

[John Niba]

War to any fake political leader so called who will take money to betray the cause of our liberty. It would be and out right betrayal and is tantamount to death. Let this guys be carefull because wheb Biya will be facing the guilotin they will go with him. This is a sound warning. we are not joking.

[Njousi]

Let the Americans depot her to face the reality in Cameroon as soon as possible.

[Nico tosah]

Bobe Innocent,
Thanks for always keeping us informed. And at last it has come to this…GUERILLA WARFARE IN CAMEROUN!!!!
Excerpt:
The Commando Alliance Brotherhood of Cameroun
Claim of Responsibility
“We the Commando Alliance Brotherhood for the Liberation of Cameroun, hereby claim responsibility for yesterday’s Thursday September 29, 2011 gun incident on the Bonaberi Bridge over the Wouri River….Let it be known that all our commandos returned to base safely after their successful operation. We also claim responsibility for planting grenades in ELECAM branch office in Limbe-Southwest Region Cameroun”
*************************************************
Guerilla Warfare as was known and fought then and is still known and fought today originated from the brains of the Guerilla war Strategist Mao Tse Tung. He wrote:
“In guerrilla warfare, select the tactic of seeming to come from the east and attacking from the west…. When guerrillas engage a stronger enemy, they withdraw when he advances; harass him when he stops; strike him when he is weary; pursue him when he withdraws. In guerilla strategy, the enemy's rear, flanks, and other vulnerable spots are his vital points, and there he must be harassed, attacked, dispersed, exhausted and annihilated.’
He goes further and warns that “Without a political goal, guerrilla warfare must fail, as it must, if its political objectives do not coincide with the aspirations of the people and their sympathy, co-operation, and assistance….”
Culled from his book titled: On Guerilla Warfare.

Guerilla Warfare or “Hit and Run” as the insiders call it has always succeeded in all the cases I know. The most insidious part of these wars has always been that you never know who the enemy actually is, he may even be that your most trusted bodyguard. Their success or failure elsewhere has always come from all what Chairman Mao has strategized. Is this doable in the Camerounian context? We have read from the excerpt that “Without a political goal, guerilla warfare must fail.” In the present state of things in Cameroun we can easily guess what these goals can be from the name they have adopted. Can somebody guess what vulnerable spots can be in regimes elsewhere? What can they be in the Camerounian regime? (Say how and why you think so).
Nico tos.

[Gan Charles]

What did the "The Commando Alliance Brotherhood of Cameroun" succeed in acomplishing? Can someone please explain.