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17, April 2018

May says UK strikes on Syria were in national interest ⁰

The UK participated in recent attack on Syria because it was the right thing to do and because US President Donald Trump asked us to, says British Prime Minister Theresa May.

May made the remarks while addressing parliament on Monday, where she stressed that the strikes were carried out to “further prevent the use of chemical weapons.”

“We have not done this because President Trump asked us to do so,” she added.

Early on Saturday, the US, Britain and France carried out a string of airstrikes against Syria over a suspected chemical attack against Douma. Washington and its allies blamed Damascus for the suspected assault.

The Syrian government has strongly denied the allegation, calling on Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) to send a fact-finding mission for investigations.

‘May accountable to parliament not US’

Meanwhile, UK opposition Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn has reiterated his stance that British premier is “accountable to the parliament – not to the whims of the US president.”

Corbyn further stressed that the attacks were illegal and violated UN Security Council’s charter.

“There is no more serious issue than the life and death matters of military action,” he added.

“It is right that parliament has the power to support or stop the government from taking planned military action,” he further noted.

Russia rejects evidence tampering claims in Syria

Also on Monday, Russian foreign minister Sergey Lavrov rejected accusations that Moscow is tampering with evidence of the alleged chemical attack.

“I can guarantee that Russia has not tampered with the site,” said Lavrov.

He further stressed that no chemical weapons had been used in Douma.

“I cannot be impolite with the heads of other states, but you quoted the leaders of France and the UK and US and, frankly speaking, all the evidence they quoted was based on media reports and social media,” he said.

“What did take place was the staged thing,” he added, while questioning the US,UK , and France over the timing of the strikes which were carried out before Inspectors from the OPCW even arrived in the country.

OPCW to arrive in Douma on Wednesday

Meanwhile, Russian officials have announced that the OPCW team would arrive in Douma on Wednesday.

“Tomorrow (Tuesday) the security services of the United Nations … will test the routes. And on Wednesday is when we plan the arrival of the OPCW experts,” said a senior Russian official.

Source: Presstv

17, April 2018

Nigeria: Gunmen abduct German citizen, kill policeman ⁰

Gunmen in the northern Nigerian state of Kano killed a policeman and abducted a German citizen on Monday as they travelled to a construction site, police said.

Five gunmen ambushed a vehicle carrying construction workers and opened fire on them along Sabon Titi Madobi road at around 7:45 a.m. (0645 GMT), a police spokesman said. The road is on the outskirts of the state’s capital city, also called Kano.

The vehicle was carrying staff of Dantata & Sawoe Construction Company, a Nigerian firm, to a building site, Kano police said in a statement. A police sergeant, who was part of a protection unit escorting the group, was killed and the German man was abducted, the statement added.

The “manhunt of the abductors is ongoing,” said Kano state police in a statement. The German embassy in Nigeria declined to comment. The company also did not immediately respond to calls and an email requesting comment.

While the gunmen’s motive iis not yet clear, kidnapping for ransom is common in parts of Nigeria. The abductions were originally targeted at expatriates in the south-eastern oil region of the country, but gradually spread to the north of the country, where the authorities increased their crackdown on cattle rustling, which was the most common crime. Abductees are often released after a few days, once a ransom has been paid.

In January, two Americans and two Canadians on business trips were abducted before being released after a few days in the northern state of Kaduna. Two South African nationals were also abducted and released a few days later in the same region in late January. Ten of Nigeria’s 36 states apply the death penalty to abductors.

Source: Africa News

16, April 2018

Biya: The bell tolls ⁰

Ian Khama took the international community by surprise when he announced early in the month that he was voluntarily stepping down as president of Botswana. The 65-year-old leader will be the second African president to step down in recent time after Angola’s former President Jose Eduardo dos Santos, 75. Kham’s announcement came not too long after Zimbabwe’s former President Robert Mugabe, 94 and South Africa’s former President Jacob Zuma were forced out of power in their respective countries. Khama’s decision immediately raised the hope that sit-tight and old generation African leaders have begun to learn that it is wise to quit when the ovation is loud. Curiously, the reported cases of voluntary and forced resignations of African presidents had occurred in swiftly only in one sub-region, Southern Africa, even as the other regions are also‘filth’ of sit-tight leaders.

Following Mugabe’s exit, watchers of Africa affairs quickly turned to Cameroon in West Africa where 84-year-old President Paul Biya has held sway over the country’s affairs for 35 years nonstop. Biya succeeded the country’s former leader, Ahmadou Ahidjo in 1982 and he has since remained in power. Ahidjo ruled Cameroon for 21 years and voluntarily handed power over to Biya due to his failing health. Interestingly, Biya had served in various capacities in Ahidjo’s government before becoming president.

It would seem Cameroon is a leading African state having a government of the elderly. While Biya is 85 year-old, the Senate president, Marcel Niat Njifenji is 83-year-old. He was born on 26 October 1934. Under the country’s constitution, Njifenji is the qualified candidate to succeed Biya. The Prime Minister Philémon Yang is 70-years-old. He was born on 14 June 1947. Records show that the Biya’s administration is made up of octogenarians who have been in power for over 60 years now and there are no signs that they are ready to go. It is no wonder that Biya is nicknamed the “Monarch.”

Cameroon is expected to hold presidential election in October and the thinking among analysts is that Biya should throw in the towel and allow young generation of leader(s) to emerge. The main opposition party, the Social Democratic Front (SDF) may have tactfully thrown a challenge to the ruling party, the Cameroon’s People Democratic Movement (CPDM), when its founder and leader, 77-year-old Ni John Fru Ndi announced he was stepping down for a younger politician to contest the presidential election in October. The party has announced the nomination of a 49-year-old aviation expert, Joshua Osih as its presidential candidate. Ndi was quoted as saying he wants to leave the stage for the young generation.

But it might be an illusion to think that Biya is prepared to vacate the presidency. About five months to the election, he has remained silent on whether he was going to relinquish power though it is an open secret that the ailing president would be seeking another 7-year-mandate. Biya suffers prostate cancer and failing heart. In February, a Cameroon newspaper carried an unconfirmed report that the president slumped at his Unity Palace. The report said: “The atmosphere at the presidential palace is tense and government officials have been holding meetings to come up with a common response so as to keep the population in check.” It is believed that the anxiety over the Ambazonia crisis and the poor state of the economy have further added to the deteriorating health of the president. Yet, he clings to power.

He is often out of the country seeking medical attention abroad, a development that has made some observers to nickname him “absentee president.”A non-governmental organisation, the Organised Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP) said in March that it has “calculated the amount of time the president spent abroad using reports from the daily newspapers.” According to the group, “the president spent nearly 60 days out of the country last year on private visits.” It also alleged that “he spent a third of the year abroad in 2006 and 2009,” adding that “The Intercontinental Hotel in Geneva is his favorite destination.”

The government-owned Cameroon Tribune newspaper immediately responded, calling the group’s investigation “a clear electoral propaganda.” Still, other sources said the president seldom appears in public and often meets with his ministers at the airport.

It was a shocking revelation when the media said Biya has not held cabinet meeting since 2015. How can it be explained that Cameroon has a president who does not consider the holding of cabinet meetings important. The presidency might argue that the prime minister is in control and holds meetings with the ministers. But this cannot be considered as a plausible excuse in a modern day society.

It was only on March 15, 2018, he convened another cabinet meeting which had no agenda in the invitation letters sent out. Sources reportedly said the meeting was not different from those of the past when Biya delivers more of lectures instead of allowing the cabinet members to deliberate on issues. The cabinet meetings are said to be usually brief, perhaps not to over stretch the president’s poor state of health.

Already, his loyalists who benefit from his government are reportedly calling on him to contest the election. And that is what the president needs to buttress his decision to continue in power. Of course, the president has a readymade argument on his table as to why he has to contest the election. That argument borders on the political crisis facing the country following the declaration of the Ambazonia state by the Southwest and Northwest Anglophone provinces. Currently, Biya is ruling a country on the edge and there are no indications that peace will return soon.

Believing that it can always clamp down on agitators, the government failed to take appropriate peaceful measures to stem the tide of political upheaval when signs first emerged that the indigenes of the two English-speaking provinces were feeling marginalised.

The situation got to a head when the government issued the obnoxious decree compelling schools and courts to adopt French as their official language whereas English language has been the official language in the two provinces. Biya has reportedly ruled the country by decrees since becoming president even as he claims to be running a democratic government.

The refusal of the Biya administration to respond naturedly to the peaceful protests initially staged by the people has since been the undoing of the government in the two provinces. As the country contends with increasing cases of kidnapping, assassinations, killing of government security agents and indeed outright guerrilla warfare, the government has resorted to the use of brute force to quell the uprising. But that seems to be a herculean task as the separatists continue to expand their base and the government continues to increase the number of troops being deployed.

The seriousness of the Anglophone crisis is to be found in the continuous flow of refugees from Cameroon to Nigeria. Three Nigeria states, Taraba, Cross Rive and Benue, sharing border with Cameroon are already overwhelmed with refugees escaping from the daily exchange of fire between government troops and separatist forces.

Only few days ago, eight Cameroonian athletes went missing from the ongoing Commonwealth Games in Australia to the shock of Yaounde. Cameroon press attaché at the games, while reacting to the development, admitted that “It came as a complete surprise,” adding that “There were no worries of this kind of thing might happen.” Apparently, the athletes have fled the Cameroon as life is no longer safe there. Besides the breakdown of law and order in the troubled provinces in particular, the crisis is having its toll on the economy as well. The educational system in the two provinces has also collapsed.

Ironically, Biya calls Southern Cameroonians agitating for independence terrorists. He has vowed to destroy them. The government recently celebrated the deportation to Cameroon of the Ambazonia secessionist leader in Nigeria, Ayuk Tabe Julius and 46 others. Reports said Ayuk was among 15 separatist leaders who Cameroon issued arrest warrant for in November 2017.

The Anglophone crisis has continued despite the government’s decentralization policy which was introduced to douse political tension in the agitating provinces. The policy gives more power the local council to oversee the affairs of their areas. The poor implementation of the policy made indigenes of the provinces not to have faith in the process which the president had described as a major reform.

Biya said: “It is my belief that fast-tracking our decentralisation process will enhance the development of our regions.” On the implantation process, he said: “To that end, I have ordered the implementation of the necessary measures to speedily give effect to this major reform.”

But what went wrong with the process of implementation? The people believe it a political gimmick to give a resemblance of democratic governance where there is freedom of expression, unhindered electoral process and even distribution of infrastructures. But Biya thinks otherwise.

He said: “We started implementing this process effectively since 2010, but of course we can ascertain the fact that there are still some difficulties, there are still some problems. The councils complain that the resources put at their disposal do not allow them to respond to the needs of the populations and to the implementation of their projects.”

Certainly, Biya deserves commendation for his steadfast leadership. He is a patriotic Cameroonian who thinks well about his motherland. He stands strongly for the unity of the country. Indeed, he has great dreams for the country. But sometimes dreams become mere fantasies that are not realizable. Perhaps, this explains why he has not been able to turn Cameroon into another United States of America. At 80 plus, the president would be taking the country for a ride to think that he alone has the wisdom to lead the country. It is clear that he is already overwhelmed with the Ambazonia crisis and the dwindling economic fortunes facing the people. Now is the time for him to bow out and allow new blood to be injected into the government. The unity and progress of Cameroon is more important than a president who clings to power even when it is clear he no longer has solutions to the nation’s mounting problems. Biya should either learn from the experience of Mugabe and Zuma or take a cue from Khama.

Culled from Sunnewsonline

16, April 2018

Islamic Cleric says Samuel Eto’o will be President of Cameroon ⁰

The renowned Ghanaian Islamic cleric who is accredited with his accurate predictions and prophesies on all local and international channels, Mallam Sham Una Ustarz Jibril says former captain of the indomitable Lions Samuel Eto’o would be a candidate for a presidential election in Cameroon.

According to him, the respected footballer will follow the footsteps of Liberia’s President George Opong Weah to lead his country.

In an interview with Peacefmonline.com, Mallam Sham Una Ustarz Jibril was emphatic that the former Barcelona striker will end his football career as a politician. “He [Eto’o] in person does not have a presidential ambition but the youth in Cameroon and the rest in the diaspora will force him to contest the presidential elections,” he said.

Mallam Sham’s prediction comes after some international media platforms have hinted that the Samuel Eto’o would be a candidate for the 2018 presidential election in Cameroon. The soothsayer is however of a view “Samuel Eto’o will be a good leader ever in Cameron”

Source: Peacefmonline

16, April 2018

Southern Cameroons Crisis: Atanga Nji says Biya regime will not dialogue with separatists ⁰

The Cameroon government will not dialogue with separatists elements in the country’s Anglophone region, Interior Minister Paul Atanga Nji has stressed. Speaking late last week on state-owned Cameroon Radio Television, he reiterated a position he had advanced in late March that Yaounde will deal with persons advancing the continued unity of the nation.

He told host of the political talk show, Actualite Hebdo, that president Paul Biya had placed security as a top priority because without it, Cameroon will not be an ideal investment environment. According to him a thirty day grace period will be opened for separatist elements to lay down their arms, failure to do so, “it is the law that will take its course,” he said.

On the subject of separatists leaders deported from Nigeria to Yaounde early this year, he said they were doing fine in detention, buttressing an earlier position advanced by Information Minister, Issa Tchiroma Bakary in an interview with RFI.

The Minister has been on a national tour since he was sworn in. He has been to both regions in the Anglophone area – the northwest and southwest, calling on people to support the government’s peace efforts.

Atanga is one of two Anglophones who were handed positions in the government following a cabinet reshuffle in early March 2018. He was handed the Territorial Administration portfolio whiles Dr. Nalova Lyonga was named Minister of Secondary Education.

What has become known as the Anglophone crisis, has riled the country’s two English-speaking regions. A previous cry against discrimination and marginalization from French-majority Cameroon has now taken a violent turn.

Secessionists under the so-called Ambazonia Republic continue to push for a breakaway from Cameroon – a move the government has flatly rejected. After a crackdown on protests in October last year during a planned symbolic independence declaration, the secessionists turned to arms.

They have since attacked and killed over twenty members of government forces – police, soldiers and gendarmes. They have also kidnapped two government officials. A soldier after burning his vehicle and a government official who appeared in a video begging to be rescued.

The call for dialogue has continually been made by several countries and groups but has yet to be seriously pursued. A number of the separatists leaders have been arrested and deported from Nigeria since January but they have yet to appear in court.

The humanitarian crisis arising from the situation has also led to Cameroonians fleeing the Anglophone regions in their thousands. The United Nations refugee agency has openly tasked parties to use dialogue to avoid further escalation of the crisis.

The duties attributed to Minister Atanga Nji from when he was sourced from his serious criminal gang underground world where he was a crime kingpin to join the French Cameroun crime syndicate was that of the Secretary-General of its National Security Council, Minister of Special Duties at the Presidency and a Section President of the CPDM in Mezam County of the Southern Cameroons. He was strategically placed and provided the resources to zealously advance French Cameroun’s fifty-six-year-old genocide of the Southern Cameroons. Cameroon Intelligence Report can now state that the appointment of this crime kingpin as Minister of Territorial Administration a position he cumulates with that of Secretary-General of French Cameroun’s Security Council and Section President of the CPDM for Mezam is intended to put a public face to this robot in French Cameroun’s genocide reboot command structure. It is intended also to insulate and prevent Paul Biya and members of his French Cameroun’s crime syndicate from being held criminally responsible for the genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes and multiple international violations within the territory of the Southern Cameroons and Nigeria.

The appointment of Atanga Nji from the shadows of the crime syndicate from where he operated, to the more visible role of Minister of Territorial Administration was not intended to fundamentally change the nature of the duties he has been performing within the crime syndicate. It is intended to enable him to play a commanding public role within the reboot command structure of French Cameroun’s genocide crime syndicate.

Written by Africa News and Cameroon Intelligence Report

16, April 2018

Southern Cameroons Crisis: Staring down the barrel of bankruptcy ⁰

When the Southern Cameroons crisis started in October 2016,few people thought it would last for a week. Very few even thought it would have an impact on the government. The two English-speaking regions were considered insignificant, especially as they only constitute 20% of the country’s population.

Senior government officials such as Laurent Esso and Jacques Fame Ndongo felt it was not even necessary to pay attention to the English-speaking minority. To the government, it had everything under control and if the population insisted on carrying through with its demands, then the government would stop at nothing to crush the English-speaking minority.

Mr. Fame Ndongo, who is the country’s higher education minister, is alleged to have compared the two regions to “two cubes of sugar” which could be easily melted in an ocean; with the ocean being the 80% Francophone majority. Little did he know that those “cubes of sugar” had stood the test of time and after 56 years of marginalization, the people of the North West and South West regions had had enough and were prepared to make their grievances known to the international community.

The fighting is ongoing, and it is getting nastier by the day, as government soldiers erase whole villages from the country’s map, a tactic it used to intimidate French-speaking freedom fighters popularly known as “Marquisards” in the 60s. These acts of violence do not seem to be producing the desired impact. Far from dissuading the determined Southern Cameroonian fighters, they are instead breeding revenge which is feeding the circle of violence that the government has triggered in the country.

Today, Cameroon government officials are gradually coming to terms with the fact that the two “cubes of sugar” will not easily melt. Instead of intimidating the fighters, the violence has now become a reason why the people of Southern Cameroons have to fight to the finish. They know the government is not willing to solve the problem and yielding to government pressure will only imply that they will have to go back to the status quo ante where they were regarded as second-class citizens.

The human cost of the conflict is staggering. Soldiers and civilians have been killed in a conflict that could have been avoided. The government has simply stopped announcing the killing of army soldiers, as this may have a huge impact on those who are being sent to the restive English-speaking regions.

The government has continued to put a brave face on a terribly bad situation. But behind the scenes, there is a gnashing of teeth. The government knows that fighting a war on multiple fronts is a dangerous thing to do. A source close to the Unity Palace has indicated that the government is slowly admitting that it had underestimated so many things, especially the role the Southern Cameroonian Diaspora that holds that it is time for it to play a key role in the country’s economic and political life.

After more than five decades of unnecessary marginalization, the Southern Cameroonian Diaspora believes that it can right the wrongs of the past by financing the various armed groups that are wreaking havoc in Southern Cameroons. Today, the region has become a no-go area for many people. The country’s administrative officers have become targets for the armed groups. Some government officials have been kidnapped, though none has been killed. But this act by the fighters is sending a very strong message to the government that has been giving the impression that it is in control of its entire territory.

But the reality on the ground is different. The armed groups are calling the shots and places like Menji in Lebialem Division have become lawless with police officers and soldiers living in constant fear, as the dangerous Lebialem Red Dragons are capable of striking right at the heart of Manji, the Division’s main town. This has been proven with the kidnapping of Professor Leke whose video went viral a few weeks ago.

The learned professor was undressed after having been charged with bringing illegal criminal aliens into the country with the intention of destabilizing the fatherland (Ambazonia). Professor Leke Tambo who has been freed, has left the country and he is currently in the United States where he is having a rest after his ordeal with Southern Cameroonian separatists. He was advised never to grant any interview by the Red Dragons. He knows what may befall him if he disobeys the instructions of the “Ambazonian military.”

A former judge, Mbeng Martin, was also recently picked up by Manyu Tigers, an armed group that is a nightmare to army soldiers in that part of Southern Cameroons. The retired and cash-strapped judge had been criticizing the Ambazonian President, Julius Ayuk Tabe, because he had been misinformed that his junior brother, a diplomat in Brazil, could be appointed as Cameroon’s Prime Minister. He got it all wrong and had to learn the hard way.

The spirit of the fighters is known to pick up its victims after mid-night and that was when the retired judge was picked up in his native Ewelle in Manyu Division. Wont to taking and giving bribe, the retired judge who had only CFAF 90,000 in his pocket was prompt at giving the money to the fighters who were infuriated by this act of corruption; an act deplored by Southern Cameroonians. This earned him a little beating. The fighters called him to order by hitting his head with a machete. The retired judge cried like a child as he knew he might never see his family again. But the fighters who have remained steadfast to their principle, released the retired judge at Eyumojock, many miles from where he had been arrested with a clear message. “Tell former Minister Ogork Ntui and Member of Parliament Susan Okpu that they have been excommunicated from Eyumojock Sub-division. If they make the mistake of coming to that part of the country, they will not have the time to regret their mistake.” Former Minister Ogork is taking this message seriously and ever since he got the message, he has been regular to the bathroom. He understands what could befall him if he made the mistake of going to his village.

Close to two years after Southern Cameroonians took to the streets, Cameroon has become one chaotic nation on its way to becoming a failed state. Today, many Western embassies have advised their citizens to avoid parts of the country due to the violence that is playing out there. The American embassy, in particular, has advised Cameroonians, most of whom are Southern Cameroonians bearing American passports, to travel to Cameroon using their American passports. This follows a decision by the Yaounde government to arrest many Southern Cameroonians in the Diaspora for their role in the Southern Cameroons crisis that has given the country a very bad name. The Central African country that was being touted as an oasis of peace in a desert of chaos has become as chaotic as its neighbors.

The government’s inability to address the core issues that brought a revolt to its doorstep and its decision to pursue a military rather than a political action to resolve this crisis has instead made matters worse. Today, armed groups are cropping up all over Southern Cameroons like ragweed and these young fighters are giving government troops a good run for their money. Young, inexperienced soldiers are permanently in fear as they are not combat-tested. They know any mistake on their part will surely lead them to their graves. Ambazonian fighters are unpardonable.

Today, it now normal for junior officers to bribe their seniors so that they do not get sent to Southern Cameroons which in the minds of many army soldiers is synonymous with death. The military generals who are running the show are feathering their nests from the resources earmarked by the government for the prosecution of this unnecessary fratricidal war.

All across the country, it is also rumored that the country’s defense minister, Joseph Beti Assomo, is making a huge fortune out of the military chaos that is playing out in Southern Cameroons. A source close to the presidency has indicated that even the president is gradually questioning the rationale behind the war. His fear of a drawn-out war is gradually pushing him into suspecting those who had advised him against dialogue.

The Cameroon Concord News Group source at the country’s presidency has intimated that Mr. Biya is contemplating a troop draw-down in the two English-speaking regions, as the country’s finances dry up and the light at the end of the tunnel which his collaborators had shown him a few weeks ago is turning out to be a fire in a nearby burning house.

Though the power dynamics are in the government’s favor, many political analysts argue that Southern Cameroon crisis has simply overwhelmed the government. The country’s poorly trained military has been spread thin. With many armed groups popping up every day in different parts of the former West Cameroons, the government seems to be fighting a bloody war on many fronts.

What is more challenging is the fact that the war is not conventional, and the separatists’ hit-and-run tactics are hitting the frustrated and demotivated soldiers where it hurts the most. Since the armed conflict erupted in January 2018 following a declaration of war against Southern Cameroonians by the country’s old and ailing president, Paul Biya, more than 300 army soldiers have been hacked to death by Southern Cameroonian fighters who are thought to be using supernatural powers.

But the greatest victim is the country’s treasury. The conflict has messed up the government’s financial plans. It has hit the country’s economy like a ton of brick. Recently, the government had to review its grow figures. It has clearly acknowledged that Southern Cameroonian fighters have the potential to send the country’s economy into a tailspin.

The crisis that started as a joke has connived with other factors such declining oil production and falling oil prices to manufacture the perfect nightmare for the country’s leaders who had overestimated their financial ability to prosecute such a costly war.

The country’s leaky treasury is spelling hard times for the country’s burgeoning civil service. The country’s financial indicators are trending very low. Government coffers are empty, and many ministries do not have the resources to carry out some of the main projects that had been included in this year’s budget.

Mr. Biya is gradually losing sleep. The country’s empty coffers are gradually becoming a huge challenge. Over the last few months, Mr. Biya has been working overtime to find out where he can have money to pay the country’s military and civil servants. His Western backers are gradually back-pedaling, and this is pushing him into the hands of unconventional friends like China and Russians.

A recent trip to China only transformed him into a mobile buffoon. Mr. Biya’s trip to China was designed for him to sweet-talk the Chinese into giving him huge chunks of money for him to meet his mounting domestic financial commitments. But the Chinese, known for their craft and intelligence, carefully steered everything towards business and bilateral cooperation. To them, Mr. Biya and his huge delegation were simply circus animals which have come to China to entertain the moody Chinese population.

They understand that the Biya government is full of many thieves. They are aware that the country’s maximum-security prison is full of former cabinet ministers who have robbed their country blind.In their eyes, Mr. Biya himself is not a saint. A recent international report has clearly indicted the 85-year-old Biya for wasting his country’s resources on unnecessary trips abroad. The report also indicts his wife, noted for her flaming red hair, of being a “shopaholic” whose constant trips abroad have made a hole in the nation’s coffer.

The Chinese are simply not interested in pouring their money in a country wherein the president and his ministers have transformed the state treasury into their personal Automatic Teller Machine (ATM). Mr. Biya might have been promised lots of things, but he knows that it will be an uphill task for him to get free money from the Chinese who themselves are facing some financial headwinds, especially as the global economy has taken a nosedive.

Even the country’s defense minister, Joseph Beti Assomo has indicated that help from friends to help address the crisis could be welcomed. Mr. Assomo expressed that wish while on a recent trip to Russia where he spoke to the country’s press. Asked whether Cameroon was seeking foreign support to help curb the crisis, Mr. Assomo sounded ambiguous in his response. He said“we are not close to such prospects, but when you have a friend who is in trouble and if you are a real friend, you have to go to his rescue; you don’t wait for him to call for help. We are not asking anybody to come to our rescue, but if a friend, a real friend, comes and proposes to help us, we will examine his offer. We are not crying to the world to come and help us, we are open to all the opportunities that our partners and our foreign friends can present to us, but for now we are managing within Cameroon because to us, it’s a Cameroonian problem,” he said.

The Yaounde government is clearly staring down the barrel of bankruptcy. The government has a hot potato on its hands. The per diem paid to soldiers deployed to the South West and North West regions is gradually becoming a huge financial problem to the government. Besides, it is also causing huge cracks on the military’s wall as some soldiers hold that they are not paid their fair share of money for the risk they are taking.

But it won’t be long for these soldiers to figure out that the country cannot even pay their salaries. Like civil servants, they may be in for long, scary nights. The government’s recklessness is coming back to bite soldiers and civil servants and this may herald the beginning of the end of a government that has been conducting itself more as a crime syndicate than an institution that is supposed to be working in the intertest of its citizens. It is just a matter of time and the government will see the writing on the wall.

The government wants the Southern Cameroons crisis to end very fast. Its finances are in a total mess. Cleaning up the mess will take a long time. The shit will soon hit the fan if the government does not find alternative sources of funding. The noose is tightening and even the Prime Minister has been prompt at calling on government officials to cut down on cost. But a government wont to wasting taxpayers’ money will find it hard to mend its ways.

The wasteful government has been counting on the French, but the French alone will not be able to provide the much-needed resources to roll back the various armed groups in the English-speaking regions.

The French have their own problems and will not be able to help the Yaounde government to pay its shell-shocked soldiers. Mr. Biya has to come up with billions of dollars over the next months if he wants to continue to rule the beleaguered country. Elections are fast approaching and without money, the ruling party will surely not win the upcoming elections. It needs money to bribe voters, especially in the French-speaking regions of the country. If those resources are not forthcoming, then the government is in real trouble and it must know its days are numbered.

By Kingsley Betek, Cameroon Concord News Group West Africa Bureau Chief

16, April 2018

Ambazonia Self-Defence Council: Nso Foncha elected Spokesperson ⁰

Chairperson of the Ambazonia Self-Defence Council (ASC) today announced the appointment of Mr. Nso Foncha as new Spokesperson of the ASC Council. Mr. Foncha will provide a public voice for the Council by ensuring that public announcements are made in the most appropriate fashion and through the most appropriate channels. Within that role, Mr. Foncha will conduct most correspondences with media outlets, such as TV, newspapers, and radio stations. Mr. Foncha will also communicate with the members of the public who have questions about the Council and ongoing self-defence activities throughout Ambazonia. The spokesperson will brief regularly the people of Ambazonia at home and abroad on self-defence developments. The spokesperson will serve as the only official source of information regarding self-defence to the African Union, United Nations, governments and international organizations. For all self-defence related inquiries, email ASC Spokesperson Mr. Nso Foncha at official.asc@africamail.com

The Ambazonia Self-Defence Council brings together more than 95% of scores of self-defence groups across Ambazonia territory that are dedicated to defend Ambazonia people, their property and interests against all threats. While the Interim Government pursues diplomacy, the Council promotes the inherent right of individual and collective self-defence against ongoing armed attacks on the people and within the territory of Ambazonia perpetuated by armed soldiers of La Republique du Cameroun and mercenaries from République du Tchad ordered by President Paul Biya. However, the ASC Council does not assume responsibility for the actions of any self-defence group that violate international conventions and human rights laws.

The Council seeks to ensure that established and rapidly rising new self-defence groups by unemployed, frustrated and angry youths across Ambazonia exercise self-defence activities in a professional manner and consistent with international law and practices until the conclusion of a UN-backed negotiated solution to fully implement April 1961 UN General Assembly Resolution 1608(XV) on the Southern Cameroons right to sovereignty

16, April 2018

French Cameroun wins UNIFFAC U-17 championship ⁰

Host Cameroon was crowned champions of the Central African Football Federations’ Union (UNIFFAC) after beating DR Congo 1-0 in the final on Thursday (12 April 2018) in Yaounde.

The side guided by Thomas Libiih, a former Cameroonian midfielder, got the only goal courtesy Moctar Oumate in the 36th minute. Well-placed in the defence of the Congolese, Oumate made the most of an assist from Joel Awono Amah, firing past a hapless DR Congo goalkeeper Nsingui Bakutu Nahan.

The Congolese launched onslaughts for the equalizer, but the homers held on to claim victory. At the group stage, DR Congo beat neighbours Congo (3-2), followed by another victory over Central African Republic (1-0), and also Chad (1-0) at the semis.

On the other hand, Cameroon settled for a 1-1 draw with Chad and beat Sao Tome e Principe 2-1 to book their place at the last four, where they edged Congo 1-0.

In the third place, Congo beat Chad 2-0. The tournament served a preparatory test for the teams in the region ahead of the zonal qualifier for the Total U-17 Africa Cup of Nations Tanzania 2019 scheduled for DR Congo in August.

Source: Boxscorenews

16, April 2018

Nigeria:70-year-old arrested for abducting Southern Cameroon woman for 28 years ⁰

A 70-year-old man, Alhaji Aliyu Onmaya, has been apprehended by Benue State Police Command for allegedly abducting a Cameroonian woman, Martha Eyom, for 28 years.

The state Commissioner of Police, Fatai Owoseni, who paraded the suspect, yesterday, in Makurdi, alleged that he abducted his victim in 1990, explaining that his arrest was effected in Makurdi after a tip-off by the victim and her father.

“We arrested him when the father of his victim alerted us, this was after the woman had escaped from the suspect’s home,” Owoseni said.

Narrating her ordeal, the victim said, “It all happened 28 years ago when my friends and I came from Cameroon to write JAMB examination in Calabar. “My abductor saw us and chatted with us after which he waved an handkerchief on my face. At that point, I lost my memory and did not know anything about myself”, she said.

“I’ve been living with him since then and we have two children, one of them is in the university now. “The last place we lived was Otukpo. A young man helped me and a pastor who prayed and set me free from the spell that was on me.

“With the help of the young man, who is from Nigeria but plays football in Cameroon, I was able to traced my place and returned home 28 years after he mysteriously took me away.” The father of the victim, Michael Eyong, who was with her at the police headquarters in Makurdi, said he accompanied his daughter back to Benue to seek justice.

“We are from Mamfe in Cameroon. The man kidnapped my daughter for 28years and, within this period of her disappearance, I lived in pains because she is my first child.

“My 16-year-old little daughter returned home a week ago as a 44-year-old woman, looking even older than her age. I thank God for answering my prayer.

“We were able to arrest his alleged abductor with the help of Benue State Police Commissioner. All I am asking for at the moment is justice. He should be made to face the wrath of the law for what he did to my daughter and my family”.

Source: Todayng