Headline News

Football: Arsenal in danger of relegation

23, December 2020

Football: Arsenal in danger of relegation 0

West Brom manager Sam Allardyce on Wednesday taunted old rivals Arsenal by claiming the struggling Gunners are in danger of relegation.

Arsenal are languishing in 15th place in the Premier League after their worst start to a league season since 1974-75.

Mikel Arteta’s team are just four points above the relegation zone and were thrashed 4-1 by Manchester City in the League Cup quarter-finals on Tuesday.

Albion are second from bottom with seven points, five adrift of safety, and host Arsenal on January 2 in what Allardyce believes will be a crucial relegation showdown.

Asked if he regarded Arsenal as rivals in the fight to avoid the drop, Allardyce said: “If they are in the bottom eight at the moment, yes, absolutely.

“They’ve only won maybe one in the last 10 or so, and it appears their big results have come in the Europa League.

“And of course getting beat again last night (Tuesday), even though it’s not in the league, as it does with our players, drains the confidence of Arsenal’s players, of course it will.

“Because they’ll be wondering what has hit them, why they are down there, and what it is going to take to get out of that position.”

Allardyce often jousted with former Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger whenever his teams faced the Gunners.

A veteran of several successful fights to avoid relegation in his long managerial career, Allardyce is confident he can save West Brom, potentially at the expense of Arsenal.

“I know what it takes, I hope I can convince the players to respond to what I say on what it takes to get out of it, and I hope we can push on Arsenal when they play us because they’ve got a lack of confidence, and try to beat them — or anybody in the bottom eight,” Allardyce said.

Source: AFP

Israel’s government collapses, triggering fourth early election in two years

23, December 2020

Israel’s government collapses, triggering fourth early election in two years 0

Israel will hold a snap election in March after parliament failed on Tuesday to meet a deadline to pass a budget, triggering a ballot presenting new challenges for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Campaigning in Israel’s fourth parliamentary election in two years gets underway with Netanyanu facing public anger over his handling of the coronavirus pandemic and while he is engaged in a corruption trial, the first against an Israeli prime minister.

Israel’s longest-serving leader will also have to contend with a new rival from the right, Gideon Saar, a defector from Netanyahu’s Likud party who an opinion poll on Israel’s Kan public TV on Tuesday showed was drawing even with him.

Netanyahu, who has denied any criminal wrongdoing, and the current defence minister, centrist politician Benny Gantz, established a unity government in May after three inconclusive elections held since April 2019.

But they have been locked in a dispute over passage of a national budget key to implementing a deal in which Gantz was to have taken over from Netanyahu in November 2021.

The Speaker of Parliament declared its dissolution late on Tuesday in a session broadcast on live television, saying a snap election was automatically triggered by its failure to approve a budget.

Source: REUTERS

Yaoundé: Media owners plead for an increase in state support from XAF2 to 3 bln

23, December 2020

Yaoundé: Media owners plead for an increase in state support from XAF2 to 3 bln 0

In the framework of the 30th celebration of the law of December 19, 1990, on social communication, Repac (a media owners’ association) recently addressed a memorandum to Paul Biya, president of the Republic of Cameroon.

In its memorandum aimed at making media companies sustainable, Repac mainly asked state subsidies to be increased to XAF2 billion or XAF3 billion yearly. 

Indeed, up to early this year, that subsidy ranged between XAF150 million and XAF300 million every year (The last support granted was XAF240 million.

Previously named “aide publique à la communication privée au Cameroun” (public support for private communication in Cameroon), it was distributed to media companies and trade associations. However, in April 2020, its name changed to “appui institutionnel de l’État à la presse à capitaux privés” (State institutional support to private media). The beneficiaries also changed; they now include companies that publish offline and online magazines regularly.

Source: Business in Cameroon

Southern Cameroons Crisis: Russian connection established

23, December 2020

Southern Cameroons Crisis: Russian connection established 0

As many in government circles in Yaoundé have been busy praying that the Southern Cameroons crisis that has put the country in the spotlight for all the wrong reasons fizzles out on its own, some Southern Cameroonians have been working very hard and under the radar to establish a solid connection with Vladimir Putin’s Russia which is seeking to have a foothold in the Central African sub-region.

France has had a strangle hold on the  sub-region for a long time and this is about to change, especially as Russia is currently  in the Central African Republic (CAR) where it is creating a nightmare for the French and its lackeys in the sub-region.

The French had planned to bring back the country’s erstwhile president, François Bozize, in an election that had already been decided by the French.

The country’s current president, Faustin-Archange Touadera, is not prepared to go along with French roguery that is robbing French-speaking African countries of their wealth and independence.

President Vladimir Putin has also found an ally in Paul Kagame, the Rwandan president and a true African who believes in the total decolonization of Francophone Africa.

Like Putin, Paul Kagame has already sent Rwandan troops to the CAR to provide much-needed military support to the country’s struggling military.

Russia has gone beyond troops. It has dispatched sophisticated equipment and military advisers to the country and Russian troops are conducting aerial bombardment of areas held by French-supported rebels.

Former President François Bozize has already lost two of his sons in the bloody fighting which might bring French influence in the country to a humiliating end.

The CAR situation has created brand new opportunities for Southern Cameroonian separatists and some of them have already established strong and reliable connections with Russians who are also eying Cameroon.

Russia wants to expand its influence beyond Eastern Europe and the current geopolitical situation in the Central African sub-region clearly excludes the Czars who are also in search of oil, gold and diamond; resources that abound in Cameroon.

A source close to the Southern Cameroonian delegation has hinted the Cameroon Concord News Group that discussions with their Russian counterparts are going on smoothly and if things go on as planned in the CAR, then Cameroon will be the next.

Currently, rumor is swirling that there are armed groups in Cameroon’s border with the CAR, preparing to strike the country where it hurts the most.

A Yaoundé military Brigadier General said on Tuesday that the country’s military had investigated those claims, adding that the military would remain vigilant with the objective of nipping any such actions in the bud.

But it is hard to trust a word from the Yaoundé government that is wont to speaking from both sides of its mouth. The government seems to be made up of career liars whose specialization is to hide the truth.

A source close to the country’s presidency has intimated that there is panic in Yaoundé as Russia seeks to roll out France from the sub-region.

The corrupt and dying government understands that Russia’s geopolitical ambitions in the sub-region will change a lot in the sub-region and many of the sub-region’s dictators like Paul Biya, Cameroon’s president, will be in Russia’s cross hairs.

Southern Cameroonians have finally figured out that the West will not help them overcome their challenges and given that Southern Cameroons has a rich sub-soil, they will be offering huge benefits to Russians who, from indication, need those resources.

According to a source that is aware of the Russian deal, oil in the Bakassi peninsula is the bargaining chip Southern Cameroonians are using to lure the oil-thirsty Russians.

“Russians need oil, geopolitical influence and a market in the sub-region and Cameroon is a key element in the sub-region. Southern Cameroonians who have not had any solid assurances from Western democracies are prepared to help the Russians have a foothold in the sub-region,” the source said.

The source added that “many of the actions undertaken by the Yaoundé government in recent days are determined by the changing geopolitical landscape. Yaoundé has hastily organized fake elections in the regions in the hope that the outcome will help it stave off any opposition or tensions in Southern Cameroons, but last week’s elections have not changed anything. It is simply a shuffling of cards. The main issues and grievances remain,” the source said.

“2021 will be a tough year in Cameroon in particular and the Central African sub-region in general. With Southern Cameroonians having established a strong relationship with Russia, it is obvious that sophisticated weapons will soon be heading to Southern Cameroons and the fighting will take a turn for the worse,” the source stressed.

Cameroon is really caught between a hard rock, deep blue sea and a dangerous snake. In the North, Boko Haram is gaining more ground on a daily basis. The country’s soldiers quake in their pants once they are assigned to the North.

In the East, a new rebel group has emerged and with a lot of confusion in the Central African Republic, there is a reason to fear that the fighting might spread into Cameroon and given the level of unemployment and frustration in East Cameroon, things might spiral out of Cameroon.

Meanwhile, Southern Cameroonians remain determined to obtain their independence. A recent video released by the separatists clearly shows that there is huge sympathy for the separatists who are seeking the total independence of Southern Cameroons.

The video shows how many young Southern Cameroonians have been recruited to fight for their fatherland.

While the Yaoundé government is seeking to show its false soft side by trying to offer worthless gifts to internally displaced persons during this festive period, separatists, for their part, are recruiting and establishing relations with the geopolitically ambitious Russia.

It is obvious that if the international community does not jump in to address those issues that have transformed the Central African sub-region into a ticking time bomb, more blood will be flowing in the days ahead in Cameroon where a mix of corruption and arrogance have made it impossible to address even the most basic issues deriving from bad governance.

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai

Southern Cameroons Crisis: Michael Mbi Oruh, chief facilitator of French Cameroun military killings in Mkpot Village

22, December 2020

Southern Cameroons Crisis: Michael Mbi Oruh, chief facilitator of French Cameroun military killings in Mkpot Village 0

In 2017, the US-based Ambazonia Interim Government (The IG), banned French Cameroun’s ruling political party, the CPDM, in the Southern Cameroons. The IG advanced that the CPDM is a syndicate with links to organized crime and terrorism. Since that historic pronouncement from The IG, many Southern Cameroonian criminals have moved base to French Cameroun for fear of facing Southern Cameroon’s free and fair legal system. One of such self-exiled creatures is a certain Michael Mbi Oruh, a fully paid-up member of the CPDM crime syndicate who unscrupulously usurped the throne as Chief of Mkpot village in Manyu County on Saturday 7 April 2007.

Since the declaration of Ambazonia independence in October 2017, he has played a role as a principal facilitator of extrajudicial killings and other crimes against humanity by the French Cameroun savage military in a place he ironically calls his village- Mkpot. Mr. Orock Thomas Enow and Mr. Tambe John Ojongmbang are his latest innocent victims that were shot and killed in summary execution-style in the early hours of Sunday 20 December 2020 in Mkpot village in Manyu County. Before their extermination, this illegal and criminal Chief of Mkpot and his numerous informants led by Mr. Egbe John Besong on different occasions, orchestrated and facilitated the extrajudicial killings of Mr. Ako Benedict Ako, Mr. Bate Joseph aka Best Joe, Mr.Ayuk Peter Nayongoh, Mr. Awa Armstrong, Mr. Besong Valderama Takor, and Manyor Ntui by the French Cameroun military.

Chief Michael Mbi Oruh, a common criminal and a career liar with deception oozing from every word he utters and action he takes, attained his traditional title through the support of French Cameroun’s dubious colonial administrators. The fake master’s degree holder and former stooge at the Ministry of Commerce and Industrial Development of French Cameroun dubiously took over the throne with the aid of the colonial Divisional Officer of Eyumojock after the death of Chief Emmanuel Agbor Akat, who died under suspicious circumstances in 2002. He was imposed on the people of Mkpot by DO Divine Kamara Kamara as per Protectoral Order No 045/2006 duly signed by the Prefect of Manyu Division.

Chief Michael Mbi Oruh was seen by many as the prime suspect in the circumstances surrounding the unfortunate death of the late Chief Emmanuel AgborAkat. Michael Mbi Oruh was not the natural and rightful person to succeed the late chief but was forced to represent his selfish interest and that of his CPDM masters at all cost against the will of the people and ancestors of Mkpot. By his criminal activities since sitting on the throne, the legitimate concerns of our ancestors and the people of Mkpot are unfortunately coming to fruition.

Michael Mbi Oruh and other members of the CPDM crime syndicate shamelessly confessed to the media immediately after his installation that he is not the rightful person to succeed Chief Akat but he had to take charge. “I thank God I have been chosen because according to the tradition it is not the time for my family to be Chief. By all standards, I am not supposed to be Chief” Mbi Oruh confessed to Elvis Tah of Postnewsline. “I thank God for him, because, just as he said, his family had no legitimate chance to the throne” DO Divine Kamara Kamara concurred.

Immediately after his installation as chief of Mkpot, Michael Mbi Oruh embarked on full-blown greed, deceit, abuse, and exploitation of the inhabitants of his village. This wretched piece of misery manipulated poor villagers and took over their building lands, agricultural properties especially cocoa, coffee, and palm plantations for little or no returns, thus depriving many of any sustainable source of livelihoods. The Ambazonian war of independence provided an opportunity for many indigenes of Mkpot to free themselves from increasing servitude under Chief Mbi Oruh and the CPDM hegemony. However, it also presented a golden opportunity for this malicious, first-division stationary bandit to use the savage French Cameroun military to exterminate those who protested against his forced and ill-gotten enthronement as the chief of Mkpot.

Indigenes of Mkpot village supporting the legitimate and inalienable right to self-determination of the people of Southern Cameroons have been attacked persistently by the savage marauding military of French Cameroun with the help of this illicit chief. He has successfully worked with his well recruited malicious team of informants to ensure proper coordination and execution of a series of invasions leading to gruesome extrajudicial killings of those he considers are in support of the Southern Cameroons cause. Some of these evil invasions have resulted in extensive damage to homes, properties, and the loss of many lives.

Civil society organizations operating in and out of the Southern Cameroons have taken the responsibility and challenge to file a series of evidence-based reports to international humanitarian institutions and agencies against Chief Mbi Oru has one of the representatives of Paul Biya’s oppressive and repugnant regime. Michael Mbi Oruh is perpetrating genocide, systematic ethnic cleansing, and other forms of crimes against humanity in Southern Cameroons and the long arm of justice is on his case.

Ambazonian Restoration forces have decided to take tougher actions against self-imposed colonial chiefs like Mbi Oruh, currently orchestrating and facilitating French Cameroun’s military extermination activities in Manyu County and other Ambazonian communities. Ambazonian Restoration Forces have now not only banned Chief Michael Mbi Oruh from entering any part of Ambazonia including Mkpot village, they have also reaffirmed their determination and commitment to take the sword to Chief Mbi Oruh and his cronies currently hiding in Yaoundé and other French Cameroun cities.

Except for those who prefer to negotiate with the evidence, the verdict from Mkpot is overwhelming that Michael Mbi Oruh is a criminal and an enemy of the Ambazonia people. By his actions over the last thirteen years and by being directly linked to numerous executions in his village over the last three years, he has vindicated his credentials as a monument of absurdity and evil. Michael Mbi Oruh is a clear and obvious danger to the people of Mkpot and Ambazonia and he must be brought to justice.

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai with Intelligence Files from Eyumojock

Orange Cameroon, MTN Ivory Coast boost 4G connections

22, December 2020

Orange Cameroon, MTN Ivory Coast boost 4G connections 0

MTN deployed 4.5G in the city of Abidjan to meet rising connectivity demand in the economic capital, while Orange Cameroon increased the speed and capacity of its LTE-A network.

Ecofin Agency reported, MTN’s announcement was made in the commune of Marcory. The operator said 4.5G boasts speeds up to 200Mbps, enabling customers to download a 15-minute video in seven seconds instead of 20 to 30 seconds.

Hyacinthe Seka, MTN Ivory Coast chief technical officer said the technology was launched first in Ivory Coast’s economic capital due to high demand for faster and reliable internet connection, and expansion of 4.5G to other locations will come soon. The construction of the operator’s 4.5G network was financed partly by the CAF40 billion ($74.4 million) in CAPEX the company made during this year, although did not detail how much exactly went into this project.

Orange Cameroon said its ‘4.75G’ LTE-A service was boosted in parts of Cameroon, this service was launched in January this year in a number of locations including: Douala, Yaounde, Mbankomo, Sangmelima, Mbalmayo, Ngaoundere, Bafia, Garoua-Boulai, Bandjoun, Bangangte, Ferme-Suisse, Mbanga, Yop and Mengbwa.

It was developed in conjunction with Finnish vendor Nokia and Orange, both began a major regional rollout of 4G LTE in 2018 to upgrade Orange’s RAN and to enhance mobile internet services, reported TeleGeography’s’ CommsUpdate.

Orange Cameroon chief engineering and network development officer, Abdallah Nassar, told TelecomTV the company trialed ‘fixed broadband’ 700MHz LTE service for enterprises, preparing for launch next year.

Culled from Developing Telecoms

How much does the president of Cameroon get paid?

22, December 2020

How much does the president of Cameroon get paid? 0

Cameroon’s President for Life reportedly ends – $610,000 / R9.4 million per annum

Paul Biya’s pay cheque clearly indicates the disparity between the salaries of a dictator versus an elected president. Biya has been Cameroon’s leader since 1982, and earns a figure you’d more expect to see come up in the Powerball jackpot than on a pay slip.

The French Cameroun dictator makes roughly 230 times the average Cameroonian salary, and indeed earns more than other world leaders from developed nations, including France’s Emmanuel Macron.

Source: Cajnewsafrica

Violence in Central African Republic Sends Hundreds Fleeing to Cameroon

22, December 2020

Violence in Central African Republic Sends Hundreds Fleeing to Cameroon 0

Cameroon says hundreds of Central African Republic (CAR) civilians have fled across the border in the past few days to escape election-related violence. Bangui is holding elections later this month and those fleeing into Cameroon say sporadic clashes are already breaking out.

 Local residents say Garoua Boulay’s public square in the past four days has seeing an unusual influx of civilians from neighboring CAR. 

 Gregoire Mvongo, the governor of Cameroon’s East region which includes Garoua Boulay, says about a thousand people have crossed over into Cameroon since Friday to escape violence in the lead-up to the December 27 poll.   

 Mvongo said the situation in the CAR is very troubling.  He said he traveled to Garoua Boulay Sunday and ordered the military to porous border areas to limit the spill-over into Cameroon from the new wave of fighting.  

 Among those who fled the CAR is 32-year-old agricultural engineer Jean Paul Nambobona.  He says he trekked with his wife and two children through the bush before finding transport to Garua Boulay.  He said on the road they saw many people struggling to leave the CAR. He added that he wanted former president Francois Bozize to remember that the CAR has gone through very difficult moments and its civilians want a return to peace.  

 On Saturday, the CAR government accused Bozize of organizing a rebel alliance to attack the capital, Bangui, a week before the election. 

 Bangui said U.N. peacekeepers dispersed armed rebels loyal to Bozize who were occupying areas near the capital.  

 Bozize, whose candidacy for the presidential election was rejected, denied he organized any rebel attack. His opposition coalition on Sunday demanded the election be postponed due to the violence, but the government insisted the vote will go ahead.

 Speaking on Radio RCA, self-declared youth leader Rigobert Ngaissio said that young people should not listen to rebels who call for taking up arms against the state.

 He said he is calling on all Central Africans, especially the youth, to be vigilant and patriotic because the threats to stability are real and serious. Ngaissio said it is imperative for everyone to contribute to stability in the Central African Republic.

 A government spokesman on Monday confirmed reports that Russia and Rwanda had each sent several hundred troops to the country.  

 Rwanda on Sunday said its troops were dispatched in response to rebels supported by Bozize targeting its peacekeeping forces.  

 Russia has been supplying the Central African Republic with arms and security contractors.  

 CAR descended into violence in 2013 when Bozize was ousted by the Séléka, a rebel coalition from the Muslim minority, which accused him of breaking peace deals.

 But Bozize maintains a large following, especially in the army and among the country’s largest ethnic group, the Gbaya.

 The December 27 election is seen as an important step in bringing stability to the CAR.  

 In the past seven years of fighting, close to a million Central Africans have fled to neighboring Cameroon, Chad, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Nigeria.

Source: VOA

Biya regime preparing for a second round of negotiations with President Sisiku Ayuk Tabe

21, December 2020

Biya regime preparing for a second round of negotiations with President Sisiku Ayuk Tabe 0

President Biya and his French Cameroun political elites are preparing for a second round of negotiations with the leader of the Federal Republic of Ambazonia President Sisiku Ayuk Tabe and his top aides detained at the Kondengui High Security Prison in Yaoundé. But this time around the regime in Yaoundé needs to get things done and done in a hurry!

Cameroon Intelligence Report gathered that the Biya regime is negotiating with ammo in its pockets and the Francophone dominated government has awarded its army a hefty budget increase.

President Biya’s chief of staff and other senior members of government have reportedly complicated all steps towards reconciliation with the people of Southern Cameroons and pushed the conflict to play into the hands of government hardliners. However, recent Russia troop’s deployment to the Central African Republic has sent panic signals to Yaoundé.

The Central African Republic (CAR) recently declared that Russia and Rwanda have deployed hundreds of troops to the nation following an alleged French sponsored military coup plot ahead of this week’s key presidential and legislative elections.

“Russia has sent several hundred soldiers and heavy weapons” within the framework of a bilateral cooperation agreement, CAR’s government spokesman Ange Maxime Kazagui announced on Monday, adding,  “The Rwandans have also sent several hundred men who are on the ground and have started fighting,”

A number of planes from Russia, an ally of CAR’s President Faustin-Archange Touadera, landed in the country over the weekend, Reuters reported Monday, citing unidentified sources.

The presence of Russian troops in the Central African Republic is an indication that France is slowly but surely losing its grip on the CEMAC region. Correspondingly, the Cameroon Francophone army over the last four years has been struggling to find a way out of the war in Southern Cameroons with a Commander-in-Chief who continues to rely on a small set of generals and military advisors from his Beti-Ewondo tribal extraction.

By Isong Asu and Chi Prudence Asong

UN peacekeepers say rebel push in Central African Republic ‘under control’

21, December 2020

UN peacekeepers say rebel push in Central African Republic ‘under control’ 0

Rebel forces advancing on the Central African Republic’s capital Bangui have been pushed back and the situation is “under control”, a spokesman for UN peacekeeping forces said Sunday, as tensions mount a week before key elections.

The government had alleged an attempted coup when three of the powerful armed groups that control most of the country’s territory began advancing towards the capital along critical main roads, ahead of presidential and legislative elections scheduled for December 27.

Earlier Sunday, the Coalition of the Democratic Opposition (COD-2020) called for the votes to be postponed “until the re-establishment of peace and security”.

Uniting the main parties and movements opposed to President Faustin-Archange Touadera, COD-2020 was until recently led by former president Francois Bozize, who the government said Saturday was at the head of rebel fighters massing not far from the capital.

Vladimir Monteiro, spokesman for the UN’s MINUSCA peacekeeping force, told AFP Sunday that “the armed groups have left the town” of Yaloke, on one of the routes towards Bangui, and that they had given up ground in two other areas.

MINUSCA “sent blue helmets to Mbaiki, where there were clashes on Saturday… to block the armed groups,” Monteiro added, saying “the situation is under control”.

But security and humanitarian sources said that parts of the armed groups were still on the ground around Bossembele — around 150 kilometres (90 miles) from Bangui.

The government had said Saturday that former president Bozize was at Bossembele with fighters from three rebel groups which announced a coalition on Saturday called the Coalition of Patriots for Change (CPC).

They urged members to “scrupulously respect the integrity of the civilian population” and to allow vehicles belonging to the United Nations and to humanitarian groups to circulate freely in the former French colony.

In a joint statement, a group known as the G5+ — France, Russia, the US, the EU and the World Bank — urged Bozize and allied armed groups to lay down their arms, calling for the elections to go ahead on December 27.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres appealed for calm and called on all sides to ensure credible elections and peace.

And the 11,000-strong MINUSCA force warned Saturday it would “use all means at its disposal including planes to prevent violence.”

‘Why take up arms?‘

Meanwhile, Bozize’s KNK party denied the former leader wanted to carry out a putsch.

“We categorically deny that Bozize is at the origin of anything,” Christian Guenebem, a spokesman for his KNK party, told AFP.

“The government has always wanted to undermine the physical and political integrity of Bozize.”

“Why take up arms against your countrymen?” Touadera asked at a rally in Bangui Saturday.

“The national election authority and Constitutional Court have guaranteed that the elections will be held as scheduled,” added the president, who is widely expected to win re-election.

Bozize, back after years in exile, has been barred from running in the election by the coup-prone country’s top court, as the CAR had sought him with an international arrest warrant on charges including murder, arbitrary arrest and torture.

The 74-year-old, who came to power in a coup in 2003 before himself being overthrown in 2013, said last Tuesday that he accepted the court’s decision.

The CAR spiralled into conflict when Bozize, a Christian, was ousted as president by the Seleka, a rebel coalition drawn largely from the Muslim minority.

That coup triggered a bloodbath between the Seleka and so-called “anti-Balaka” self-defence forces, mainly Christian and animist.

France sent its army to intervene, and after a transitional period, elections were staged in 2016 and won by Touadera.

Source: AFP

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