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13, September 2017

Southern Cameroons Crisis: Hon Wirba calls for a review of the 1961 Foumban Agreement ⁰

The respected SDF MP from the Jakiri constituency in Southern Cameroons has said that the Biya Francophone government should engage with West Cameroon elites in relation to the 1961 Foumban Agreement.

In a correspondence dated September 7, 2017, addressed to several diplomatic missions such as La Francophonie, the Commonwealth, the United Nations, CEMAC, UNHCR, etc., the MP stated that Southern Cameroonians are being treated as slaves by French Cameroonians.

The Honourable Joseph Wirba reviewed the Bui incident of September 4, when a teenager was shot dead by a gendarme. For the deputy, it is a “genocide” orchestrated on his people with “the complicit silence and the blessing of President Paul Biya, commander in chief of the armed forces”.

The MP also described the militarization of Southern Cameroons on the eve of the new school year and the suspension of the Internet for a period of three months as “a discriminatory sanction” that has ruined several businesses in these regions.

The Honourable member noted that despite his parliamentary immunity, an arrest warrant had been issued against him. “All this to silence the injustice suffered by the marginalised people of the Northwest and Southwest regions,” the MP said.

Joseph Wirba called on the international community and the United Nations to put pressure on the Cameroonian government to engage in dialogue with the leaders of the Anglophone uprising. The MP further pointed out that he would like to see federalism on the agenda in this dialogue as ruled in Foumban in 1961.

By Sama Ernest
Cameroon Concord News

13, September 2017

La Republique: Gunmen kill one, kidnap 22 ⁰

Gunmen thought to have crossed the border from violence-racked Central African Republic attacked civilians in a remote part of Cameroon, killing one and carrying off 22, a local government official said on Wednesday. Banditry is a long-standing problem in eastern Cameroon, but armed attacks and kidnapping for ransom have become much more frequent in the last two years as civil conflict has intensified across the border in Central African Republic.

Armed bandits have taken advantage of insecurity in Central African Republic to loot homes and kidnap children, fuelling calls from human rights organisations including Amnesty International, for a United Nations force to protect civilians there. The latest attacks in Cameroon happened on Sunday in the isolated localities of Landou and Ouro Kessoum, Jean Kalandi, sub-prefect of Rey-Bouba in northeastern Cameroon, said on state radio.

“The armed bandits attacked shortly before midnight on the fateful day. They ransacked houses, looted food items and took away any valuable property they could carry,” Kalandi said. “They were well armed with very modern weapons, killed one person and took away 22 others as hostages to an unknown destination. We suspect these kidnappers are either highway robbers or rebels from CAR who have been harassing our people living along our common frontier,” he said.

A week earlier gunmen had taken 15 people hostage in a similar attack in the same area, but the victims managed to escape when their captors got drunk and fell asleep, Kalandi said. Kalandi gave no details about the victims of the latest attacks, and could not immediately be reached by phone from the capital Yaounde. Kidnappers often target the nomadic cattle-herding Mbororo people, who have a reputation for wealth and sometimes pay millions of CFA francs to free their relatives. Cameroon has recently deployed large numbers of its Rapid Intervention Brigade to combat insecurity in the east, but they are hampered by poor roads along the 600 km (375 mile) border.

Central African Republic has suffered years of conflict. In the north-west, which borders Cameroon, government forces have burned scores of villages in the past two years in the hunt for rebel fighters, leaving displaced villagers and nomadic herders vulnerable to armed bandits known locally as Zaraguinas. A northeastern revolt mounted last year from Sudan’s violent Darfur province was eventually repulsed with the help of fighter jets and special forces from former colonial power France.

Source: IOL

12, September 2017

Cameroon: Hurricane Biya hits the entire country ⁰

This period is always a difficult one for the entire North American continent, especially the United States and Mexico who are always in the eyes of a storm. Recently, Harvey hit the US, like a ton of bricks, leaving Houston totally under water. Many thought it was all over and that Americans could heave a sigh of relief. But that was not going to the situation as Irma, another dangerous hurricane had been preparing to hit Americans where it hurt the most. This time around, when it touched down, it left a trail of death and destruction in the Sunshine State of Florida, after having battered Cuba on Saturday with deafening winds and relentless rain, pushing seawater inland that flooded homes and knocked out power across a wide area.

Meanwhile, in other Caribbean islands, the story has been heartbreaking. Islands already reeling from Irma had to prepare for a second pounding from another hurricane called Jose.The twin Category 4 storms had desperate residents seeking shelter across the region. In Cuba, high winds from Irma brought down trees, utility poles and made a mess of the streets with debris strewn all over the place. On the French overseas islands of St. Martin and St. Barts, Jose was expected to bring torrential rains and dangerous currents to their shores.

If the Caribbean islands and North America think they have been hit by any strong hurricanes, then they are clearly mistaken. Hurricane Biya which has destroyed everything in Cameroon over the last 35 years remains the strongest hurricane to have visited any people in recent times. It has killed many Cameroonians and left millions in very challenging circumstances. Cameroonians are out of tears. They are sick and tired of crying. Hunger, health issues and a dangerous government have reduced them to sorry spectators of events in their own country. The international community will surely be taking a good decision to help them check the fury of Hurricane Biya if Cameroon will continue to exist as a country.

By the editorial desk.

12, September 2017

French Cameroun media “buys” the silence of the Consortium leaders ⁰

French Cameroun media houses are worried about the deliberate silence maintained by the leaders of the outlawed Cameroon Anglophone Civil Consortium. Several Francophone newspapers have questioned the “silence of the lamb” attitude adopted by Dr. Barrister Agbor Felix Nkongho and Dr. Neba Fontem Neba including Lord Justice Ayah Paul Abine.
A sea of Francophone tabloids have observed that ever since their release, the leaders of the Cameroon Anglophone Civil Society Consortium have not issued any statement or press release even on social networks. Le Jour, Cameoon Info.Net and Nouvelle Expression are among the French Cameroun publications that have openly targeted the leaders of the Consortium.

We learned Dr. Fontem Neba blatantly refused saying a word during a meeting organized at the Secretariat for Defense prior to their release by French Cameroun surrogate, Brigadier General Elokobi Daniel Njock.

French Cameroun radio and television stations have also claimed that the Anglophone leaders including Justice Ayah Paul have are not willing to grant any interview with the press. The media houses in La Republique are now reporting that the leaders of the Consortium had promised while in detention that they were willing to play the role of mediators in the Southern Cameroons crisis. “Their silence raises questions,” noted La Nouvelle Expression.

At the time of filing this report, a well-placed source hinted Cameroon Concord News that the Francophone regime was putting pressure on Dr. Barrister Agbor Nkongho to issue a statement calling for the resumptions of schools in Southern Cameroons.

By Chi Prudence Asong
Cameroon Concord News

12, September 2017

Petit Pays cancels Canadian tour ⁰

The captain of the Indomitable Lions of Makossa, Petit Pays has called off the remaining date of his North American tour in Canada after saying his tour organizer was extremely lacking in entertainment finesse. Omega Rabbi Rabba pulled out of the date in Montreal and has also cancelled a planned press conference appearance in the historic Canadian city.

Cameroon Concord News gathered Turbo, the mega star cancelled the tail-end of his tour due to the fact that the sponsor failed to provide air tickets and accommodation for him and the group, Sans Visa. His manager and spokesman, Eyong Eyong Ebot said all Canadian gigs have been cancelled “due to poor arrangements”. Eyong Eyong Ebot confessed Petit Pays had promised a great spectacle despite the passing away of his younger brother, Didier Pupee but the attitude of the organiser has been shameful, disgusting and disgraceful.

Insiders said this Saturday event in Montreal was annulled due to a complete breakdown of financial communication between Petit Pays’ US based manager and the promoter in Montreal. The organiser reportedly did a money transfer to Mr. Eyong Eyong Ebot via Money gram but later cancelled the transaction and has ever since been brandishing the receipt as prove that he paid the artist. The multi-award-winning Makossa star said he hopes to come back to Montreal some other time. Watch Petit Pays reaction in video below

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai
Cameron Concord News

12, September 2017

Floridians return to storm-battered homes as Irma flooding spreads ⁰

Storm-shocked Floridians returned to shattered homes on Monday as the remnants of Hurricane Irma pushed inland, leaving more than half of all state residents without power and city streets underwater from Orlando and Jacksonville into coastal Georgia and South Carolina.

Downgraded to a tropical storm early on Monday, Irma had ranked as one of the most powerful Atlantic hurricanes on record before barreling into the Florida Keys on Sunday and plowing northward along the Gulf Coast and moving inland to wreak havoc across a wide swath of the third-most populous US state.

Still, the scope of damage in Florida and neighboring states paled in comparison with the utter devastation left by Irma as a rare Category 5 hurricane in parts of the Caribbean, where the storm killed nearly 40 people – at least 10 of them in Cuba – before turning its fury on Florida.

Especially hard hit in the United States was the resort archipelago of the Keys, extending into the Gulf of Mexico from the tip of Florida’s peninsula and connected to the mainland by a single, narrow highway, Governor Rick Scott told a news conference on Monday.

“There’s devastation,” he said, adding that virtually every mobile-home park on the island chain was left upended. “It’s horrible what we saw.”

While some evacuees from the Keys expressed anger at authorities refusing to allow them to return to their homes on Monday, the US Defense Department said as many as 10,000 residents who had stayed put on the island may now be stranded and in need of evacuation.

Monroe County fire officials said later they would reopen road access on Tuesday morning at 7 a.m. EDT (1100 GMT) for residents and business owners from Key Largo, the main island at the upper end of the chain, as well as the towns of Tavernier and Islamorada farther to the south.

No timetable for reopening the remainder of the Keys was given.

In Miami, which escaped the worst of Irma’s winds but experienced heavy flooding, residents in the city’s Little Haiti neighborhood returned to the wreckage of trailer homes that were shredded by the storm.

“I wanted to cry, but this is what it is, this is life,” Melida Hernandez, 67, who had ridden out the storm at a nearby church, said as she gazed at the ruins of her dwelling, split in two by a fallen tree.

Evacuees urged to stay put

A man walks through flood waters from Hurricane Irma along the St. Johns River in the Five Points neighborhood on Sept. 11, 2017 in Jacksonville, Florida. (Photo by AFP)

The storm claimed its first known US fatality over the weekend in the Keys – a man found dead in a pickup truck that had crashed into a tree in high winds.

At least one other possibly storm-related fatal car crash was reported on Sunday in Orange County, Florida. On Monday, two people were killed by falling trees in two Atlanta suburbs, according to local authorities.

Some 6.5 million people, about one-third of Florida’s population, had been ordered from their homes ahead of Irma’s arrival, and more than 200,000 people sought refuge in about 700 shelters, according to state data.

Scott urged evacuees all over the state to stay put for now rather than rush home, saying downed power lines, debris and other hazards abounded. “Don’t put any more lives at risk,” he said.

Without power

A vehicle is inundated by storm surge flood waters from Hurricane Irma along the St. Johns River on Sept. 11, 2017 in Jacksonville, Florida. (Photo by AFP)

One of the biggest lingering problems was widespread power outages, with utilities reporting some 7.4 million homes and businesses without electricity in Florida and neighboring states. They said it could take weeks to fully restore service.

Scott said 65 percent of Florida was without power. Travel into and out of the state likewise remained stymied. Miami International Airport, one of the busiest in the country, halted passenger flights through at least Monday.

Police in Miami-Dade County and Fort Lauderdale reported making 48 arrests for looting. The Keys were largely evacuated before the storm struck with winds of up to 130 mph (209 kph), and police established a checkpoint on Monday to keep displaced residents from returning while authorities work to restore power, water, fuel supplies and medical service.

Some seeking re-entry argued with police who stopped them at the first of a series of bridges leading to the island chain. Irma’s arrival in Florida came around two weeks after Hurricane Harvey claimed about 60 lives and caused property damage estimates as high as $180 billion after pummeling the Gulf Coasts of Texas and Louisiana with heavy rains and severe flooding.

(Source: Reuters)

11, September 2017

Congo conflict forces more children to leave school ⁰

More and more children are being deprived of education in the Republic of the Congo over a protracted conflict and the country’s weak education system, an NGO says.

The Norwegian Refugee Council said Monday that some 850,000 children have been displaced and 900 schools have been destroyed as a result of intensified violence in Congo’s central Kasai region over the past year.

The group said the population is part of some 7.4 million children who are out of school in Congo as the conflict keeps taking toll on the country’s already weakened education system.

Some 92 percent of children in the six-to-11-year-old age group are out of school in the violence-hit towns of Kalemie and Tanganyika, the group said.

The group also warned that the vast Central African country risks losing its next generation as only 4 percent of humanitarian funds for education have been received this year.

“When children are displaced they are forced to suspend their education, or drop it altogether. This disruption to their development hinders their personal progress, and has detrimental effects to the socio-economics of the entire country,” said Celestin Kamori, the council’s Congo education program coordinator.

The campaigning group called on international donors to prioritize education emergencies.

“Donors should recognize that education is also a protection tool. Children enrolled in emergency education classes, catch-up classes and child-friendly spaces are less likely to join armed groups,” said Kamori, adding, “We need more funding to scale up emergency education support so that we don’t lose a generation.”

The Norwegian Refugee Council said many schools that are spared of the effects of fighting in Congo are used to shelter displaced families, further complicating efforts to restore the education system.

It added that school-aged children account for more than 17 percent of some 3.8 million people who have been displaced in Congo over the past two decades.

Source: Presstv

11, September 2017

Jacky Biho, Sam Fan Thomas to run SONACAM ⁰

Cameroun has created a new corporation to manage authors’ rights. The organization has been named the Cameroon National Copyright Corporation (SONACAM). State radio and television reported that an executive bureau was also elected headed by the renowned Sam Fan Thomas.

The elections that held on Saturday the 9th of September 2017 also witnessed a major electoral victory for popular names such as Adeline Mbengkoum, Moussa Haissam, Ottou Marcelin, Calvino, Adeline Mbengkoum, Majoie Ayi, Sergeo Polo and of course the beautiful Jacky Biho. Some musicians of the new generation such as the likes of Salatiel, Duc-Z, One Love, Lab’l were also included in the executive.

Legendary artists Manu Dibango, Eko Roosevelt and Georges Seba were elected as honorary presidents. According to the statutes of SONACAM, the executive has a three year mandate renewable once. The Minister of Arts and Culture, Narcisse Moulle Kombi who chaired the first general assembly of SONACAM installed the elected bureau and urged them to work for the interest of artists. A total of 2,400 of the 3655 artists registered in the national musicians’ database signed up for the Cameroon National Copyright Corporation (SONACAM).

Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai with files from CRTV

11, September 2017

US: Clinton says she is not done with politics ⁰

Former US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who lost the 2016 presidential election to Donald Trump, says she will not run for president again although she is “not done with politics.”

The 2016 Democratic nominee, whose new book “What Happened” is set to be published on Tuesday, appeared on CBS on Sunday to announce that she would not seek the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination.

“I am done with being a candidate,” said the former secretary of state before the release of her 2016 campaign memoir. “But I am not done with politics because I literally believe that our country’s future is at stake.”

In the 2016 presidential election, the New York billionaire won the electoral college vote necessary to become the president despite losing the popular vote to Clinton by 2.9 million votes.

‘It hurts’

The 69-year-old politician undermined Trump’s presidency, citing his former job as a reality TV star.

“We have a reality show that leads to the election of a president. He ends up in the Oval Office. He says, ‘Boy, it’s so much harder than I thought it would be. This is really tough. I had no idea,’” she said. “Well, yeah, because it’s not a show. It’s real. It’s reality, for sure.”

Clinton further asserted that she had moved on from her 2016 election loss, yet acknowledging that it still “hurts.”

“I am good,” she said. “But that doesn’t mean I am complacent or resolved about what happened. It still is very painful. It hurts a lot.”

‘Enormous letdown’

The former first lady, who took part in the new president’s inauguration ceremony after her failure, described the event “like an out-of-body experience,” stating that his speech was a “cry from the white nationalist gut.”

“But I’m a former first lady, and former presidents and first ladies show up,” Clinton said. “It’s part of the demonstration of the continuity of our government. And so there I was, on the platform, you know, feeling like an out-of-body experience. And then his speech, which was a cry from the white nationalist gut.”

This file photo taken on October 19, 2016 shows former Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton departing the stage following the third and final US presidential debate with former Republican nominee Donald Trump (background) at the Thomas & Mack Center on the campus of the University of Las Vegas in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Elaborating on her loss, she added, “I understood that there were many Americans who, because of the financial crash, there was anger. And there was resentment. I knew that. But I believed that it was my responsibility to try to offer answers to it, not to fan it. I think, Jane, that it was a mistake because a lot of people didn’t want to hear my plans. They wanted me to share their anger. And I should’ve done a better job of demonstrating ‘I get it.'”

The former candidate also cited release of a 2005 tape, in which Trump is heard bragging about sexually abusing women. “Trump was behaving in a deplorable manner,” she said. “There were a large number of people who didn’t care.”

The former secretary of state also recalled the moment she came to terms with her loss. “I just felt this enormous letdown, just kind of loss of feeling and direction and sadness,” Clinton said. “It was a very hard transition. I really struggled. I couldn’t feel, I couldn’t think. I was just gob-smacked, wiped out.”

Source: Presstv

11, September 2017

Governing Council Chairman says BBC Mancho issue will remain priority for meeting with Biya ⁰

The Chairman of the Southern Cameroons Governing Council, Sesekou Ayuk Tabe has met with the Southern Cameroons Diaspora community in the United Kingdom and Northern Ireland. The Chairman of the governing council also visited members of some families whose children were allegedly killed by French Cameroun security operatives during rallies and protests staged by the Cameroon Anglophone Civil Consortium.

Sesekou Ayuk Tabe with his entourage embarked on a visit to show solidarity and condolence to the families and communities of those who died on the cause of Southern Cameroons restoration ever since the revolution started some 11 months ago.

The leader visited Leicester in the Midlands and London where he held intensive and productive discussions with Southern Cameroonians residing in the UK. The Sesekou observed during his trip to Leicester that “We wish to remind Southern Cameroonians, friends of Southern Cameroons and lovers of Southern Cameroons freedom to stay at home in honour and remembrance of those Southern Cameroons soldiers that died for us to live as well as for Southern Cameroons children who have been starved to death through the policy of the Biya Francophone Beti Ewondo regime.”

“It will be a landmark achievement and remarkable event for Southern Cameroonians to honour and remember BBC Mancho and all Southern Cameroons detainees who are currently still being held in Francophone jails.” Sesekou Ayuk Tabe noted that it is our duty to honour BBC Mancho and all those in French Cameroun jails by staying at home; no business and movement, both human and vehicular from Monday to Wednesday. The leader added that any meeting with La Republique will only take place after the release of BBC Mancho and all Southern Cameroons detainees.

By Chi Prudence Asong
Cameroon Concord News