Monthly Archives: January 2021

Southern Cameroons Interim Gov’t calls visiting Cardinal Parolin “angel of peace”

30, January 2021

Southern Cameroons Interim Gov’t calls visiting Cardinal Parolin “angel of peace” 0

VP  Yerima asks Ambazonians To Welcome Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Parolin  to Mass in the Cathedral in Bamenda

Fellow Southern Cameroonians,

The Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Parolin will celebrate the Eucharist in the Cathedral of Bamenda, during which he will install the pallium on the Archbishop of the Diocese, Andrew NkeaFuanya. His Eminence Cardinal Parolin is the highest-ranking foreign dignitary to visit the Southern Cameroons whilst under occupation in a revolution that started more than four years ago. Archbishop Andrew Nkea is the only high-ranking member of the clergy to have visited our leaders in detention despite an objection from the President of French Cameroun, Paul Biya.

Fellow Southern Cameroonians, The Vatican noted in a recent statement that the visit of Cardinal Parolin is meant to show—once again and in the context of the current humanitarian emergency caused by the pandemic—the attention of the Church and Pope Francis for the African continent, a land rich in humanity but marked by great suffering. As your Vice President, I am urging the people in the Northern zone to come out and show Cardinal Parolin that we, the people of Southern Cameroons, belong to the body of Christ.

We should also use Cardinal Parolin’s visit to Bamenda to show the world the true nature of the genocide in the Southern Cameroons. The Southern Cameroons Interim Government is for the Catholic faith and believes that Archbishop Andrew Nkea has a prophetic voice and should use this historic visit to show that one can be Roman Catholic and, at the same time, Southern Cameroonian. As a government, we are imploring Archbishop Nkea to articulate the plight of our people forcefully with His Eminence Cardinal Parolin.

Let me end by quoting Blessed John Paul II. In 1978, he traveled to Warsaw and told millions of Poles: ‘You can take back your country if you demand it.’The Poles were fighting against long odds – the military might of the Soviet Union itself. But they won their battle.Fellow Southern Cameroonians, you can take back your country if you attend the Mass celebrated by Cardinal Parolin Mass in the Cathedral in Bamenda.

God Bless you,

Dabney Yerima

Vice President

Federal Republic of Ambazonia

Football Mafia: Madagascar’s Ahmad Ahmad Temporarily Reinstated as Head of the CAF

30, January 2021

Football Mafia: Madagascar’s Ahmad Ahmad Temporarily Reinstated as Head of the CAF 0

Banned by FIFA in November for financial wrongdoing and abusing his position as the president of the Confederation of African Football (CAF), Madagascar’s Ahmad Ahmad was reinstated as the head of African soccer on Friday during a presidential election campaign pending his urgent appeal at the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS).

The CAS said it granted Ahmad an interim ruling to freeze his five-year ban by FIFA ahead of an appeal hearing on March 2 and also promised a verdict the CAF elections on March 12 in Rabat, Morocco.

A Complex Legal Matter in Football

The court said there was a “risk of irreparable harm for Mr Ahmad” if he remained banned from leading the Cairo-based African soccer body while awaiting an appeal during the election campaign.

Ruling in Ahmad’s favour, the judges “emphasized that such a temporary decision does not prejudge in any way the decision it will take after analysing the merits of the case.”

Still, it was unclear whether Ahmad — a former minister in Madagascar’s government — could be recognised as a candidate in the weeks ahead.

Ahmad was barred this week from the election in a mandatory review by a FIFA review panel of each would-be candidate’s integrity and eligibility.

In a second decision on Friday, CAS rejected the soccer official’s request for a separate interim ruling and, instead, upheld FIFA’s right to make decisions about the African elections that were “aimed at preventing Mr Ahmad from participating.”

Background and Context

Ahmad was banned in November when FIFA ethics judges found he “breached his duty of loyalty, offered gifts and other benefits, mismanaged funds, and abused his position as the CAF president.”

He was elected in 2017 and was seeking a second four-year term leading African soccer as a FIFA vice president.

FIFA integrity checks were passed this week by four presidential candidates: Jacques Anouma of Ivory Coast, Patrice Motsepe of South Africa, Augustin Senghor of Senegal, and Ahmed Yaya of Mauritania.

By Ewang Miriam Metchane

Fearing Amba Fighters, Biya regime tightens security at football venues

30, January 2021

Fearing Amba Fighters, Biya regime tightens security at football venues 0

A stone’s throw from the Moungo, the river that in part marks the separation between the English and French-speaking regions of Cameroon, light armored vehicles and trucks full of soldiers have been on the lookout since the beginning of the African Championship of Nations (CHAN).

This tournament, which brings together 16 African national teams without their stars playing outside the continent, is a dress rehearsal before the African Cup of Nations (CAN), the flagship competition of African soccer scheduled for January 2022.

It is the first major international soccer tournament organized in the world since the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic. But beyond the health restrictions gauging 25% of the seats, 50% from the semi-finals, the great challenge for the organizers is that of security, in this country in a situation of war on part of its territory.

For the past four years, the English-speaking regions of the Southwest and Northwest have been plagued by a bloody conflict between armed groups demanding the independence of these English-speaking areas and the security forces. The violence has resulted in more than 3,000 deaths and more than 700,000 displaced persons. Civilians are caught in the crossfire and are victims of crimes and abuses by both sides, according to international NGOs and the UN.

Some armed groups have vowed to disrupt CHAN. So along the banks of the Moungo, which was also the symbol of the reunification in 1961 of Cameroon under French and British mandates at the end of the First World War, police and military forces were considerably reinforced.

A state of alert

As the qualification phase for the quarter-finals draws to a close, fears are growing in Limbe, the capital of the Southwest region, which will host one of the semi-finals, as well as in Buea, the training site for some of the teams.

On Tuesday and Wednesday, as the Zambia-Namibia match in Limbe approached, the towns on the road from the resort to Douala were almost deserted.

Armed separatists, dubbed Amba Boys passed ‘ghost town’ orders where they ban activity every Mondays.

Since the opening of CHAN, ghost towns are decreed every day and match eve in Limbe. Usually very lively, the small towns of Tiko and Mutengene, between Buea and Limbe, had closed down on Wednesday.

On the road as in Buea, light armor patrols criss-crossed the town with machine guns ready to fire.

In Molyko, the boulevard that cuts Buea in half, lies the burnt body of a car. Four other charred wrecks still lie on the road to Limbé.

Military convoys are sometimes targeted by IEDs, improvised explosives placed along the roadside.

Bomb

In November, suspected separatists attacked a school in Limbé, setting fire to two classrooms and forcing teachers and students to undress.

Descending the mountain to Limbé, as in some ultra-secure areas of Buea, life appears more normal, however. Clusters of schoolchildren and high school students return home after a day of classes. Shops and bars fill up.

But in Limbé, when the matches are approaching, fear is very present.

On Tuesday, “everyone took cover after a bomb exploded,” which did not cause any injuries, not far from the stadium, says Harris, 19, still in shock. “Just to be on the safe side,” the soccer fan did not go to Zambia-Namibia as he had planned.

From a security standpoint, everything is going well,” said Southwestern Governor Bernard Okalia Bilai on Wednesday at halftime of Zambia-Namibia, which was attended by about 1,000 spectators. “We haven’t had any incidents that would have disrupted our program,” he said.

Source: Africa News

Visiting Cardinal seeks to resolve Anglophone crisis

30, January 2021

Visiting Cardinal seeks to resolve Anglophone crisis 0

The Vatican’s Secretary of State kicked off a week-long trip to Cameroon on Thursday in which he will visit a region blighted by clashes between government forces and separatists.

During his visit from Jan. 28 to Feb. 3, Cardinal Pietro Parolin is scheduled to meet with the local authorities and Cameroon’s Catholic bishops in the country’s capital, Yaoundé, and visit the English-speaking Northwest Region.

Local media in Cameroon have reported that the cardinal will likely use his visit to work towards the resolution of the dispute known as the Anglophone crisis.

Both the Holy See and the local Church have appealed for dialogue to end the strife. One of the Catholic leaders who has played an active role in seeking a resolution is Cardinal Christian Tumi, who was kidnapped by gunmen in Cameroon’s Northwest Region on Nov. 5.

A video published on social media showed the 90-year-old cardinal calmly responding as one of his captors confronted him about his calls for separatist fighters in Cameroon to lay down their arms. To this, the cardinal responded: “I will preach what is the truth with pastoral conviction and biblical conviction.”

“Nobody has the right to tell me to preach the contrary because I was called by God,” Cardinal Tumi said. He was released by his kidnappers on Nov. 6.

The crisis in Cameroon is rooted in country’s colonial history. The area was a German colony in the late 19th century, but the territory was divided into British and French mandates after the German Empire’s defeat in World War I. The mandates were united in an independent Cameroon in 1961, but English-speakers have complained ever since of marginalization by the French-speaking majority.

There is now a separatist movement in the Southwest and Northwest Regions, which were formerly the British Cameroons. Violence escalated in October when gunmen attacked Mother Francisca International Bilingual Academy, a school in Kumba in Cameroon’s Southwest region, on Oct. 24 and opened fire on students in a classroom. Seven students aged 12 to 14 were killed.

Pope Francis prayed on Oct. 28 that “the tormented regions of the northwest and southwest of [Cameroon] may finally find peace.”

In Cameroon’s Northwest Region, Parolin will offer Mass on Jan. 31 at the Catholic cathedral in Bamenda, where he will give the pallium to Archbishop Andrew Nkea Fuanya.

Nkea, 55, was appointed archbishop of Bamenda in December 2019. He is known for his emphasis on family, community, and traditional values.

At the 2018 meeting of the Synod of Bishops on young people, faith, and vocational discernment, Nkea, who was the bishop of Mamfe at the time, said that the Church in Cameroon and many parts of Africa was growing — including among young people.

“My churches are all bursting, and I don’t have space to keep the young people,” Nkea said during a Vatican press conference in Oct. 2018. “And my shortest Mass would be about two and a half hours.”

A 2018 study by the Pew Research Center found that church attendance and prayer frequency was highest in sub-Saharan Africa and lowest in Western Europe. Four out of five Christians in Cameroon said that they prayed every day.

During the synod on young people, Nkea credited the Church’s growth in Cameroon to the alignment between Church teaching and the values of Cameroonian society, and the strength of the family as a cultural institution.

“People ask me, ‘Why are your churches full?’” Nkea said in 2018. “Coming from Africa, the family is a very, very strong institution.”

“We come from a culture in which tradition normally is handed from one generation to the other.”

“Our traditional values still equate to the values of the Church, and so we hand over the tradition to our young people undiluted and uncontaminated,” he continued, noting that a strong sense of community in the Church is something “very important that Europe can learn from Africa.”

Source: The Catholic News Agency

Vatican’s Secretary of State Cardinal Parolin meets the butcher of Yaoundé

29, January 2021

Vatican’s Secretary of State Cardinal Parolin meets the butcher of Yaoundé 0

Vatican’s Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin met the Cameroonian dictator President Paul BIYA at the so-called Unity Palace today 29 January 2021.

Local media reported that the cardinal was bearer of a message of reconciliation and peace for the people of Cameroon from the Holy Father Pope Francis.

Cardinal Parolin told state radio and television that “I am here to manifest the attention and solidarity of Pope Francis towards Cameroon.”

The top official of the Holy See said they cordially discussed on a wide range of issues including the socio-political situation in Southern Cameroons.

The Vatican Secretary of State Pietro Parolin is in Cameroon for a six-day working visit. He will celebrate the Eucharist in the Cathedral of Bamenda, during which he will impose the pallium on the Archbishop of the Diocese, Andrew Nkea Fuanya. He will equally visit the “Household of Hope” centre for street children and young prisoners in Yaounde.

Iconic U.S actress Cicely Tyson dies at 96

29, January 2021

Iconic U.S actress Cicely Tyson dies at 96 0

Cicely Tyson, the pioneering African-American actress and honorary Oscar winner, died Thursday aged 96, her manager said.

Known best for Emmy-winning television movie “The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman” and her Academy-nominated turn in 1972 film “Sounder,” Tyson’s acting career spanned seven decades and often tackled issues of racism and social justice.

She frequently turned down roles she saw as reinforcing negative Black stereotypes, including maids and prostitutes, and was seen as recently as last year on the small-screen thriller “How to Get Away with Murder.”

“With heavy heart, the family of Miss Cicely Tyson announces her peaceful transition this afternoon,” manager Larry Thompson said in a statement to AFP.

“I have managed Miss Tyson’s career for over 40 years, and each year was a privilege and blessing,” Thompson wrote, without further details of the cause of death.

Tyson’s highly decorated career included multiple Emmys and a Tony in 2013 for “A Trip to Bountiful.”

Beside Depression-era drama adaptation “Sounder,” her other film credits include “Fried Green Tomatoes” and “The Help”.

In 2018, at the age of 93, Tyson was granted an honorary Oscar for her life-long work as an icon for two generations of African American actresses.

“She’s a queen to us, Afro-Americans,” the actor and producer Tyler Perry said at the glitzy Hollywood ceremony.

“She had to work ten times harder to be paid a hundred times less” because she was a black woman, Perry said.

The composer Quincy Jones, in an emotional tribute, said Tyson “opened the door” for Black actresses from Angela Bassett to Lupita Nyong’o.

Born in New York’s Harlem to Caribbean immigrant parents, Tyson began her career as a model before turning to acting.

She won Emmys for “The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman,” in which she played a 110-year-old woman in the Civil Rights Era reflecting on a life dating back to slavery times, and for “Oldest Living Confederate Widow Tells All.”

She played other legendary Black female historical figures, including Harriet Tubman and Coretta Scott King, the activist wife of Martin Luther King, Jr.

“Trailblazer is not a sufficient description. What a legendary artist, sage and matriarch. We salute her. Rest in power, Lady Cicely,” tweeted the Martin Luther King Jr Center on Thursday.

Tyson’s memoir, “Just as I Am: A Memoir” had just been published Tuesday.

“Cicely thought of her new memoir as a Christmas tree decorated with all the ornaments of her personal and professional life,” wrote manager Thompson.

“Today she placed the last ornament, a Star, on top of the tree.”

(AFP)

The greater the sinner, the greater God’s love: Vatican’s secretary of state meets Prime Minister Ngute

29, January 2021

The greater the sinner, the greater God’s love: Vatican’s secretary of state meets Prime Minister Ngute 0

Prime Minister Dion Ngute Joseph has welcomed the Secretary of state of the Holy See, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, to Yaounde on behalf of the Head of State, President Paul Biya.

His Eminence Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Vatican’s Secretary of State touched down at the Yaoundé Nsimalen International Airport at 5:30 pm Thursday, January 28, 2021, on his maiden working visit to Cameroon.

According to a program made public by Mgr. Jervis Kebei Kewi, General Secretary of the National Episcopal Conference of Cameroon, the Pope’s envoy is on a seven-day visit that will take him to the Archdiocese of Bamenda in the country’s restive North West Region.

On Friday, January 29, 2021, Cardinal Pietro Parolin will celebrate Mass at the Nunciature before a meeting with Bishops at 9:00 am.

Later at 1:00 pm, the prelate will meet Cameroon’s Head of State, President Paul Biya at the Unity Palace.

Cardinal Pietro Parolin is expected at Foyer de L’Esperance Yaoundé at 4:45 pm ahead of a 6 pm meeting with Joseph Dion Ngute, Prime Minister, Head of Government.

The Prime Minister will offer an official supper in the name of the Head of State at 7:00 pm.

Cardinal Pietro Parolin will travel to Bamenda by plane on Saturday afternoon after he would have celebrated Mass at the Minor Basilica Mary Queen of Apostles, with the Bishops. Upon arrival in Bamenda, the Vatican’s secretary of state will meet with the clergy of the Bamenda Episcopal Province.

During a holy mass in Bamenda on Sunday, Cardinal Pietro Parolin will impose the Pallium on Mgr. Andrew Fuanya Nkea, Archbishop of Bamenda.

The august guest will fly back to Yaoundé on Sunday afternoon to be treated to supper at the residence of Mgr. Jean Mbarga, Archbishop of Yaoundé.

On Monday, February 1, 2021, Cardinal Pietro Parolin will celebrate Mass in the Carmelite Monastery in Etoudi at 7:30 am. It will be followed by a Lectio Magistralis at the Catholic University of Central Africa, on the Diplomacy of the Holy See.

A Mass with the Religious at the Yaoundé Cathedral on Tuesday morning will pave the way for Cardinal Pietro Parolin’s departure for Rome early Wednesday morning.

Source: Cameroon Info.Net

Thousands are suffering; many are out of reach of aid, CHAN highlights just how pervasive the Southern Cameroons conflict has become

29, January 2021

Thousands are suffering; many are out of reach of aid, CHAN highlights just how pervasive the Southern Cameroons conflict has become 0

African Nations Championship (CHAN) continues in Cameroon despite Ongoing conflict. Cameroon’s government has deployed its troops to serve as security for the African Nations Championships (CHAN), which began on January 16, 2021, citing concerns of violence from threats levied by separatist groups.

The factions vow to stop the football matches in English-speaking regions, just the latest development in a nearly five-year-long armed conflict. The Cameroonian government, led by Paul Biya and regional governors of English-speaking areas such as Bernard Okalia Bilai in South West Cameroon, is ensuring the public that games will be played in safety (Africanews 2021). Securing the games is a complicated endeavor, though, because it forces officials to guard against hazards from the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic as well as the possibility of violence from dissenters.

While the Cameroon people are, sadly, somewhat accustomed to violence stemming from Boko Haram that grips the Northern part of their Nation, they now face an increasingly dangerous conflict from the separatists. Cameroon’s government officially declared war against the Anglophone separatist movement at the end of 2017, yet the conflict continues. As of 2019, as many as 20 emerging separatist groups, including the Ambazonia Military Forces (AMF), joined the fight to carve an independent nation out of Cameroon along the Country’s Nigerian border (Foreign Policy 2019). It has drawn little international attention despite the displacement of hundreds of thousands of people since the beginning of the Nation’s internal struggle in 2016 (UN 2020).

The Anglophone Conflict has pitted Cameroon’s two English-speaking regions, the Northwest and Southwest, against the Francophone-dominated government. It began due to frustration and resentment toward the French-speaking government among Cameroon’s English-speaking communities due to what they see as systemic, Anglophonic discrimination in the Country’s education and legal systems. The government violently cracked down on Anglophone minority protests five years ago, and these disputes soon turned into a full-fledged armed conflict in 2018 (IDMC 2020).

Aggression has not been one-sided, however, as the separatist groups have launched many attacks. In October 2020, it was likely a group of these fighters who attacked an international bilingual school, Mother Francisca, in the Southwestern region of Cameroon that killed eight children and injured a dozen more (UN 2020). In response to these types of raids, government forces have often resorted to using live ammunition, detainment, torturing, and other tactics on English-speaking, military-aged men and those they suspect to be AMF collaborators.

In addition to these human rights violations, the vital economic and military routes from Cameroon to Nigeria have become the primary pathways for refugees fleeing unrest caused by both separatist and government forces.

Innocent civilians in rural areas are suffering, and many are out of reach of aid organizations (FP 2019). The fighting is displacing Anglophone and Francophone communities. This upheaval has depopulated vast rural, Anglophone regions and brought the combat closer to urban centers (FP 2019).

Cameroon Football Federation in the English-speaking southwest region, are working with government officials to keep the CHAN events safe. Thus far, this has been relatively effective. A year-long pandemic, years of Boko Haram terror in the North, and other pressing issues facing Cameroon notwithstanding, the main priority during CHAN will be continuing to prevent the separatist threats of violence from materializing. This reality highlights just how pervasive this conflict has become.

Source: The Organization for World Peace

African Nations Championship in Cameroon: Rich in Armored tanks, pick-up trucks and heavy weapons

29, January 2021

African Nations Championship in Cameroon: Rich in Armored tanks, pick-up trucks and heavy weapons 0

Ahead of the football tournament the African Nationals Championship in Cameroon, one initial incident forced Cameroonian authorities to impose strict security measures in the North-West and South-West provinces to ensure the games will go on.

The Cameroonian defence and security forces are particularly vigilant in the English-speaking regions, especially in the South-West, where the African Nations Championship (CHAN) is taking place until 7 February.

After the fire in front of one of the training stadiums in Limbe – allegedly caused by separatists on the eve of the tournament – Joseph Beti Assomo, the minister in charge of defence, decided to strengthen the security measures for CHAN 2021, introduced on 8 January.

Armoured tanks, pick-up trucks and heavy weapons

Under the leadership of a trio made up of Air Brigade General Benoît Eba Eba, commander of the second joint military region, General Elias Toungue, commander of the second gendarmerie region, and Colonel Séverin Eyenga, commander of the 21st motorised infantry brigade based in Buea (South-West), the personnel deployed on the ground have been reinforced and distributed around the host cities, hotels and stadiums.

The troops are supported by an armoured tank and pick-up trucks equipped with heavy weapons. Five checkpoints have been set up around the Limbé stadium and the presidential guard dogs have also been made available to detect dangerous objects. In the Fako department, the prefect has banned the use of motorbike taxis – which are the preferred mode of transport for the separatists – until further notice.

Biya’s commitment

Beti Assomo has informed President Paul Biya of these new provisions. On 15 January, the Head of State had guaranteed the officials of the Confederation of African Football (CAF) and the International Federation of Association Football (Fifa) that measures would be implemented to ensure the success of the tournament.

However, not all bets are off. While no major incident has been reported so far, a bomb did explode on 26 January near the Rwandan team’s training camp that wounded three on-duty policemen. After the first round, Limbe is expected to host a quarter-final match and one of the two semi-finals of the tournament.

Culled from the Africa Report

Vatican Secretary of State en route to Cameroon

28, January 2021

Vatican Secretary of State en route to Cameroon 0

The Vatican Secretary of State is visiting Cameroon until 3 February, during which he will meet with government leaders, celebrate Mass in Bamenda Cathedral to present the pallium to Archbishop Andrew Fuanya Nkea, and visit the Household of Hope in Yaoundé.

Cardinal Secretary of State Pietro Parolin arrives in Cameroon Thursday, 28 January, and his visit lasts until 3 February.

He is accompanied by Msgr. Ivan Santus, an official with the Section for Relations with States of the Secretariat of State.

Sign of Pope’s care and concern

The visit is meant to show—once again and in the context of the current humanitarian emergency caused by the pandemic—the attention of the Church and Pope Francis for the African continent, a land rich in humanity but marked by great suffering.

It is also intended as a concrete sign of “common, supportive, and inclusive commitment to protecting and promoting the dignity and good of all, a willingness to show care and compassion, to work for reconciliation and healing, and to advance mutual respect and acceptance.”

The Pope called for this expression of concern in his message for the 54th World Day of Peace, celebrated on 1 January 2021, which was entitled: “A culture of care as a path to peace”.

Civil and Church appointments

Meetings with the country’s authorities are planned, as well as various religious appointments.

Cardinal Parolin will celebrate the Eucharist in the Cathedral of Bamenda, during which he will impose the pallium on the Archbishop of the Diocese, Andrew Nkea Fuanya.

The Vatican Secretary of State will also visit the “Household of Hope” in Yaoundé.

The center was founded 40 years ago by Jesuit Father Yves Lescanne to provide assistance for street children and young prisoners.

Source: The Vatican News

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