Cameroon is plunged under water every rainy season. Greenpeace Africa is calling on the government to put in place an effective disaster risk management plan.

The return of the rains this August has caused several floods in three regions of Cameroon (Littoral, Far North and Adamaoua). Faced with this situation, which seems to be getting worse over the years, the Cameroonian government’s responses do not seem to be accurate.

On Monday night (August 21, 2021), a heavy rain fell in the city of Ngaoundéré (Adamaoua Region) causing flooding, with several material damages. The far north region is not left out, since the beginning of August 2021, cases of flooding are recorded in several departments of the region. The case of the city of Douala is symptomatic of this ongoing situation. The consequences are sometimes very heavy, including loss of life. These floods that are becoming recurrent in Cameroon as in several other countries of the world are one of the strong signs that climate change is a reality and require urgent action from leaders.

Ranece Jovial Ndjeudja, Campaigner at Greenpeace Africa, says, “We need to attack the root of the problem. The floods we are experiencing today are the result of little to no foresight on the part of the government.” 

In 2020 alone, nearly 160,000 people were affected by flooding in the far north of Cameroon, a region already heavily impacted by the exactions of the Boko Haram sect and which like the rest of the world had to deal with the COVID 19 pandemic.

Greenpeace Africa calls on the government of Cameroon to take its responsibilities and reconsider its international commitments in terms of risk management and natural disasters, protection of people and the fight against climate change. “We note that, for cities like Douala and Yaoundé, the outflow of rivers from their beds is partly linked to the clogging of drains by plastic bottles. Where are we with the ban on the use of non-biodegradable plastic packaging decided in 2014?  It is clear that its implementation was limited to the first weeks of the signing of the decree!”, says Ranèce Jovial Ndjeudja. 

It is more than urgent for Cameroon to ensure the implementation of the measures in its contingency plan. It is also important to put in place adaptation measures in order to prevent disasters related to the changing climate but also to protect people and their property, and thus remain consistent with its international commitments in the fight against climate change.

The Ambazonia Interim Government has said that all Southern Cameroons restoration movements including Ambazonian resistance groups will keep up their confrontation against the French Cameroun regime until the complete liberation of the Ambazonia homeland from Yaoundé’s occupation.

Dabney Yerima, Vice President of the Ambazonia Interim Government made the remarks on Thursday during a zoom meeting with Ground Zero commanders, the Interim Government reported.

The exiled Southern Cameroons leader, however, affirmed that the Ambazonian people all over the world would always be united while confronting the French Cameroun occupation until there would be no place for the invaders in the Federal Republic of Ambazonia.

“All Southern Cameroons fronts are united throughout Ground Zero,” Yerima said, describing Buea as the arrowhead of the ongoing struggle against the occupying French Cameroun regime.

By Chi Prudence Asong

The Appeal Court in Yaoundé has rejected Francophone businessman, Amougou Belinga lawyer’s request to release him.

Court extended detention of Jean Pierre Amougou Belinga, who is held on charges of murdering journalist Martinez Zogo.

Amougou Beliga is being charged with murder of the much respected journalist and whistleblower Martinez Zogo.

The prosecution indicated that the suspect took advantage of his connection to the security apparatus of the state and killed the radio host.

The CEO of the press group l’Anecdote left Kondengui prison in Yaoundé this Thursday, March 23, 2023 for the Court of Appeal hoping he was going to get a provisional release but the request was rejected.

The hearing lasted a couple of minutes and the Court of Appeal announced the postponement of the case to April.

The disgraced Jean Pierre Amougou Belinga was remanded in custody on Saturday, March 4, 2023 by the Military Court in Yaoundé for “complicity in torture by aiding and abetting” in the case of Martinez Zogo, the whistleblower journalist kidnapped on January 17, 2023 before being murdered shortly after.

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai

Four Cameroon government soldiers were killed and several others, including two civilians, were injured by a highway bomb in Amchide and Sabon Gari in the Far North region, where Boko Haram militants are active, military told Cameroon Intelligence Report Wednesday.

We gathered that a BIR patrol vehicle hit a mine on the main road linking Amchide and Sabon Gari. A bike rider and one resident were also caught in the blast.

“Four soldiers died in the explosion and many others were badly injured while two civilians were also injured,” our source said.

Cameroon government military leadership in the Far North region accused Boko Haram militants of planting the bomb.

Yaoundé did not immediately respond to a request for official comment.

Boko Haram has launched several attacks in and around the Far North region, targeting troops loyal to the Biya Francophone regime.

By Nelly Epupa with files from Rita Akana

Dawn breaks in Cameroon’s economic hub, the seething metropolis of Douala, and a crowd gathers at the water spigots by the Guinness brewery in the run-down district of Bassa.

They fill up jerrycans and canisters from the only dependable local source of water — a borehole installed by the brewery itself in the absence of a reliable state supplier.

People load up car trunks, motorcycle taxi luggage racks or else balance containers on their heads.

The hole is one of a huge number of privately-owned wells which dip into the water table in this region of four million people.

But lack of regulation has led to chaos, raising questions as to whether the precious resource can be sustained or remain drinkable.

Overconsumption and pollution of the planet’s limited supplies of freshwater lie at the core of a three-day UN Water Conference opening in New York on Wednesday.

Boreholes everywhere

Cameroon’s water problems are clearly big, according to anecdotal evidence, but there are few figures to give statistical depth.

The government says the public water utility Camwater serves a “majority” of households — but does not offer figures, or even an estimate.

Not far from Bassa, in the PK12 district, two machines are hammering away on a corner of land wedged between buildings, making the ground shake.

Boring into the ground to reach the aquifer requires copious amounts of lubricant, in the form of water pumped in by teams at the surface and a chemical additive called Polyfor.

Care has to be taken to avoid polluting the supply, said Serge Diffo, who runs the small drilling company, Hydyam.

But, he said, “you see septic tanks right next to boreholes in residential blocks.”

Wells drilled for individual use do not need any prior authorisation, a practice that verges on heresy in typical urban planning.

Hygiene fear

“Every person, in line with what he can afford, simply drills one or more wells without bothering to pay attention to anyone,” said Firmin Bon, a professor of hydrology at Maroua University.

A borehole typically costs at least a million CFA francs (around $1,600) in a country where the minimum wage is 36,000 francs.

“The density can come close to 100 boreholes per square kilometre (250 per square mile),” said Bon.

“They are sometimes in contact with sources of pollution, latrines and sewage.”

He predicted, at best, a rise in cases of gastroenteritis or, at worst, cholera — and, in the long term, cancer.

In the nearby but better-off valley of Logbessou, villas are fitted out as far as the eye can see with water tanks in the form of massive but unsightly black, grey or blue plastic water butts which store water from boreholes.

A study published by the Pan African Medical Journal found that in 2018, two-thirds of households in Doula’s fifth district were consuming water drawn from boreholes. Half of the households were more than a 15-minute walk from a source.

The country’s deputy minister for water, Hamadou Youssoufa, described the situation in Douala as “a concern,” and blamed it on runaway urban development and a population explosion.

He said the ministry was carrying out a study into the hygiene of the boreholes, which “will be useful for requiring consumers to uphold the standards.”

Skepticism

President Paul Biya, Cameroon’s iron-fisted ruler for the past four decades, acknowledged in his New Year’s address that the water problem in Douala was one of his “main concerns.”

He said the government had been asked to launch a “mega-project” this year to supply drinking water to the city and its environs.

But Francois Songue, a 75-year-old pensioner, has grown tired of such promises over the years.

“In my part of town you have to wait for water from Camwater until two in the morning — and it doesn’t come!

“I’ve travelled more than 10 kilometres here to get drinking water for my wife, my children and myself,” he said as he stood in line at the Guinness site.

Jodelle Foguem, a young housewife, said she trusted the water that came from the brewery’s taps.

“The water is not drinkable in our parts of town. We prefer to come and get it here,” she said.

Source: AFP