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Bakassi Peninsular: Fears mount as 97 deaths linked to Cameroon Gendarme attack

7, July 2017

Bakassi Peninsular: Fears mount as 97 deaths linked to Cameroon Gendarme attack 0

A Nigerian newspaper, Nigeria Today has reported that some 97 Nigerians are feared killed as Cameroon Gendarmes allegedly attacked residents of Bakassi over failure to pay a 100,000 Naira boat levy. The paper said our Gendarmes sacked mainly Nigerians from Akwa Ibom, Cross River and Ondo states. Many others escaped at midnight with their fishing boats and arrived at Ikang in Bakassi and Ibaka in Akwa Ibom.

The killing and sacking of Nigerians in former Bakassi is believed to be a violation of the 2005 Green Tree Agreement (GTA) by the Nigeria-Cameroon Mixed Commission which stipulates that the Bakassi returnees must be properly resettled to their natural habitat so that they can have a meaningful living. The GTA also states that Nigerians who choose to remain in Cameroon can do so without any molestation. The agreement makes it clear that there would be a committee monitoring the activities but since the day the treaty was signed, Bakassi people have not seen any monitoring team.

Nigerian Federal government officials yesterday evaded questions from The Guardian as government spokesmen failed to respond to inquiries. Three text messages seeking clarification on what the official reaction of Nigeria would be did not elicit any response. At Ikang beach, it was a picture of abandoned and traumatised people. Most of them remained at the jetty looking disillusioned and rejected, while a few women with their babies and children moved into Ikang village for shelter.

They looked helpless, as they pondered on how to survive, pointing at some of the boats they managed to rescue — apparently the only property they came back with. The fate of the Bakassi people at the hands of the Cameroon Gendarmes, and even back home since the International Court of Justice (ICJ) judgment, has been that of neglect by the Nigerian government. The internally displaced persons from Bakassi Cameroon since the GTA 12 years ago have lived in squalor in rickety mosquito-infested classroom blocks in Cross River and Akwa Ibom despite complaints from notable leaders like Senator Florence Ita-Giwa and the Bakassi paramount ruler, Etinyin Etim Okon Edet.

The situation is so bad that in the Akwa Ikot Edem Udo IDP camp, over 1,000 children are not in school. The Bakassi IDPs and the latest returnees have accused the Cross River State government and Federal Government of playing politics with their lives and means of livelihood. At the Ikang Beach in the new Bakassi yesterday, many of the returnees with their wooden engine boats were seen hanging around the jetty, lamenting their fate.

They alleged constant harassment and raping of their women by the gendarmes. They said yesterday’s incident was the climax as the attackers came shooting and chasing them away for refusing to pay the N100,000 engine boat tax.
One of the returnees, Chief Umoh Umoh Inyang, said that from Akpankanya in Abana, the headquarters of former Bakassi “the Cameroonian gendarmes have been harassing us. They destroyed our boats, beat us and shot many of us to death. They make a lot of trouble for us in Akpankanya in Bakassi.

“They would not let us carry on with our lives and livelihood in peace. The suffering is so much that we have to come back. They would not let us go to the sea for our fishing, and in our houses where we were just staying, they came and asked us to pay N100, 000 for each boat and when we said we did not have such money, they started beating us. They shot many of us.

“We had to leave suddenly, and so many people missed their children and members of their families. We got to this Ikang jetty around 2:00 a.m. today. They even raped our wives. Many of our people have been held captive there. They have killed about 97 people. Many people ran into the bush, many are scattered along the waterways. We came in all these boats you are seeing here. We were over 2,000 who were scattered over there. At least 94 were killed in Atabong where we were. We don’t know about other areas. We were hearing gunshots all over the place. We have about 137 who landed here in Ikang. The number is actually growing because we were 132 when we first got here and the immigration officials are registering us.”

Another returnee Mr. Nse Okon, from Akpankanya in Abana, said: “They destroyed everything. In 2008 they killed three people who worked with me. The government should come to our aid and resettle us properly in our own country. This time around, they came and told me to pay N100, 000 tax for this engine and I said I did not have that kind of money. That is why they started beating us.

“The Nigerian government should intervene urgently in this matter. Let the international community also intervene in this matter. Our land has been ceded and the people are not accommodating us there. If we can be resettled here and given work to survive, we would be grateful. They should note that we cannot survive upland too because we are all fishermen and most of us did not go to school. So they should resettle us and create alternatives for us to survive.”

Culled from Nigeria Today


Moscow: President Putin hails ‘high reliability’ of Russia’s new cruise missile

7, July 2017

Moscow: President Putin hails ‘high reliability’ of Russia’s new cruise missile 0

Russian President Vladimir Putin says he is pleased with the “high reliability” of the country’s new Raduga KH-101 cruise missiles, after a number of them were successfully used against terrorist positions in Syria.

“The application of this missile showed a very high degree of reliability. This is really the most modern weapon, with high-precision and high-power, and a decent range of 4,500 kilometers,” Putin said during a meeting of Russia’s Commission on Military Technical Cooperation with Foreign States on Thursday.

The comments came a day after the new breed of air-launched missiles, fired from Tu-95 strategic bomber jets 1,000 kilometers away, successfully hit Daesh targets on the border between Syria’s Hama and Homs provinces.

Putin said the Russian military should boost its defensive capabilities by developing more modern weapons of Kh-101’s quality and, in doing so, use the country’s combat experience from the ongoing anti-terror efforts in Syria.
“Russian weapons are demonstrating reliability and great opportunities during the anti-terror operation in Syria… It is necessary to carefully analyze this combat experience both for the modernization of existing systems and for the development of promising types of military products,” he said.

Raduga made its combat debut in November 2015, when Tu-160 bombers fired 16 of them at Daesh targets across Syria. The missile is capable of carrying high-explosive, penetrating or cluster warhead, while its KH-102 variant can be equipped with nuclear warheads. The missile’s accuracy for moving targets is said to be less than 10 meters.

The KH-101’s design coupled with its use of radar absorbing materials and other stealth technologies allow it to get past the enemy’s defenses and hit targets deep inside its territory from the distance. This means Russia is now capable of carrying out long-range precision strikes, an ability that US Air Force commanders have been long boastful about.

In mid-April, US President Donald Trump ordered US Navy warships in the Mediterranean Sea to fire around 60 Tomahawk cruise missiles at a Syrian airfield in retaliation for a chemical attack that the White House claimed was carried out by the Syrian government.

Both Russia and the US have been leading military campaigns in Syria. Unlike Washington, however, Moscow only intervened upon a request from Damascus and has coordinated its airstrikes with Syrian military forces to avoid civilian casualties.

Source: Presstv


Bishop Balla Affair: Biya regime gave the “European Interpol” doctors the body of another man to examine

7, July 2017

Bishop Balla Affair: Biya regime gave the “European Interpol” doctors the body of another man to examine 0

A new autopsy conducted on a Cameroon bishop, who died under mysterious circumstances last month, is contradicting the findings of previous autopsies, which indicate the prelate died of foul play instead of suicide by drowning.
The body of Bishop Jean-Marie Benoît Bala of the diocese of Bafia had been recovered June 2 by authorities from the Sanaga river and examined by teams of doctors from local medical colleges on June 2 and again on June 22. The examinations by these doctors, one of which had been appointed by the national bishops’ conference, found no water in the bishop’s lungs, ruling out suicide but did find signs of torture on his body.

In opposition to these findings, results from the latest autopsy conducted by two doctors working for the International Police Organization (INTERPOL) were released Tuesday via statement by Cameroon’s attorney general’s office. The statement asserts that “drowning is the most probable cause of death of the bishop.” The statement adds, “After an in-depth examination, no trace of violence was found on the body of the deceased.”
Early news reports had speculated that his death may have been the result of suicide. Subsequent autopsies disproved this theory as no water was found in the lungs and the body showed signs of violence.

The National Episcopal Conference of Cameroon issued a statement June 13, affirming the bishop was brutally murdered. “We, the bishops of Cameroon, are convinced that Bp. Jean Marie Benoît Bala did not commit suicide; he was brutally murdered. This is one more murder and one too many,” they declared. In their statement, the bishops listed a number of Church leaders from Cameroon, who had died under mysterious circumstances and called upon local authorities to protect them and bring criminals to justice.

Friends and relatives of Bishop Balla are rejecting the findings of this recent autopsy, owing to the fact signs of severe mutilation on the bishop’s body had been previously reported by local Cameroon press. Information has now filtered that the authorities gave the two European doctors the body of another man to examine.

Local media had reported that Bishop Balla intended to reveal the government’s alleged participation in the death of Abbé Armel Djama, rector of the Minor Seminary in Bafia. The priest’s dead body was found at the end of May in his room at the seminary located in the bishop’s diocese.

Meanwhile, a childhood friend of Bishop Balla, Pr. Vincent Sosthene Fouda, president of the Cameroon Movement for Social Democracy and a presidential election candidate, had his Face book account suspended Wednesday after he published a video, disclosing information related to the bishop’s alleged assassination.

Fouda is accusing Belinga Eboutou, Director of the Civil Cabinet at the Presidency of the Republic, of sponsoring the alleged murder of the bishop. Fouda attests that Eboutou escorted Bp. Bala out of his bishop’s residence on the night of May 29, which was the last time the bishop was seen alive. Fouda testified in the video that Eboutou called Bp. Bala that night at 11:47 p.m. saying, “Monseigneur, I am at your gate.” He then alleges that Eboutou took Bishop Balla to his home where he tortured him.


Yaounde: Thieves make away with GCE scripts after break-in at Franky Comprehensive High School

6, July 2017

Yaounde: Thieves make away with GCE scripts after break-in at Franky Comprehensive High School 0

There are reports that hundreds of answer GCE scripts of students of Franky Comprehensive High School, a not-too-old but renowned institution in Yaoundé, have been stolen by unknown ‘night-jars’.

The scripts were kept in an office of the school pending transfer to the accommodation center of the GCE Board.

The men of the underworld are said to have found their way into and out of the said office through the ceiling.


Anglophone Problem: The case for school resumption

6, July 2017

Anglophone Problem: The case for school resumption 0

Over the last eight months, Anglophones have clearly expressed their frustration with a political system that has poisoned their delight and made it hard for many of them to serve their country. Anglophone lawyers, teachers, engineers, political scientists and journalists have always complained about the system that has reduced them to second-class citizens in a country they hold is theirs too. Prior to 1993, Anglophone students could not cope in the country’s lone university. They were always cut out of professional schools as the competitive examination test papers were always in French, a language many of them never mastered. After many demonstrations in which many students were beaten and killed, the government finally thought it wise to set up an Anglo-Saxon university in Buea in 1993 to meet the educational needs of Cameroonians of English expression.

However, prior to the creation of the University of Buea in 1993, many Anglophone students had missed out on many opportunities in life just because they could not get the sound education they needed. The only salvation that was available was clearly designed for students from rich homes. The Cameroonian educational system had clearly rejected 20% of its population and going to America, Canada, the United Kingdom and Nigeria was the option that was out of reach for poor students. Poverty was robbing poor brilliant students of a bright future due to poor government educational policies. Many Anglophones have carried this pain in them for decades and the frustration has been unbearable. While many may not have had parents who could send them to rich countries for educational purposes, their courage and determination to reach those countries have enabled them to be there and that explains why there are two million Anglophone Cameroonians living abroad today and seeking to make their voices heard.

The Anglophone Diaspora is well educated, with many studying in some of the best American, Canadian and British universities and most of them have been working hard to help their siblings back home for them to study in the best possible conditions. The lack of good learning conditions in government schools was one of the many reasons why Anglophone teachers went on strike. Their objective has always been to impart knowledge to students in the best possible conditions. They want their junior brothers and children to have what they never had and this can only occur if the right conditions are in place. They deserve a pat on the back for this move that has caught the government’s attention. The international community is aware of the government’s failure to create those necessary conditions and the world is watching the government as it scrambles to prove its worth when it comes to making the Anglophone minority feel at home.

The failed 2016-2017 academic year should be considered by the government as a wake-up call. It must understand that if the disruption of the academic year by Anglophone activists has been successful, it is because it had abdicated its responsibilities vis-à-vis its citizens. While it gives the impression that education is highly subsidized in Cameroon, it has over the last decades failed to find out how parents actually finance their children’s education. Its creation of many government schools in Anglophone Cameroon is a laudable act, but most of these schools simply exist on paper with no real educational infrastructure. Many communities have worked hard to build shacks that can enable their children acquire knowledge and this has been very displeasing to so many Anglophones who clearly feel that their region is being neglected and marginalized.

With regard to the fees, members of the Diaspora have stepped in to help ensure their family members get the education that will give them the competitive edge in future. With two million Anglophones living out of the country, it is obvious that each one of them puts one or two children through school in Cameroon, be it in primary school or university. With their financial influence, the Diaspora easily holds sway over many children and parents in Cameroon and that explains why the Diaspora could easily disrupt the academic year. The government should understand that he who pays the piper calls the tune. Even when it was harassing mission schools for them to open their doors despite threats of destruction, the government simply did not understand that it was not the mission schools that were paying the fees, but members of the Diaspora who had clearly stated that there would be no school for a year in Cameroon. Private schools are for-profit institutions and when those who finance those schools declare that they will no longer pay the fees, those schools are bound to shut their doors and wait for the government to address its issues with the citizens who have clearly expressed their frustrations.

The whole notion of disrupting the academic year was thrown into the mix when pictures of Buea University students being molested by the police and militaryshowed up online and quickly went viral. This gave the Diaspora a huge propaganda tool and those pictures have come back to bite the government big time. The Diaspora which has been holding grudges against the government felt it was time to prove that it had the right muscles to challenge the government and it has indeed packed a punch. It threw the deadliest punches at the government, with many landing where it hurts the most. Students in schools across the Anglophone region were pulled out of school and made to understand that their future could not be guaranteed by a regime whose objective has always been to play to the gallery. Anglophone activists seized the moment to ensure a blank year would be declared in Cameroon. This has not been achieved, but their strategy of disrupting the academic has worked like a charm. Indeed, it has worked beyond expectation. The academic year has been totally messed up and the government of Cameroon has been portrayed around the world as an ineffective and corrupt dictatorship that passes off as a democracy.

The government has a crisis on its hands. No promotion exams have been written in Anglophone Cameroon since the crisis began and new students will be looking forward to joining the world of studies and formal learning in September. Nursery schools were also shut down during the demonstrations. With thousands of children looking forward to going to nursery school, it will be challenging for the government to handle this tricky situation, especially as there is no proper infrastructure to handle exceptional situations like the one that has given it a black eye.

While Anglophone activists have scored significant political goals, it is necessary to start looking at things differently after eight long months. An academic year has been lost. The government may say what it likes, but the world knows that all its actions only amount to a charade. However, Anglophones, especially the activists, must start doing an evaluation of their activities to ensure that today’s strengths do not become tomorrow’s weaknesses. Our children, sisters and brothers have paid a huge price. They have been at home since October 2016. This should be considered as their contribution to efforts at reshaping Cameroon, both politically and economically. It is now time to give them a chance for them to return to school.

While it could be argued that the government could only feel the pinch if students stayed out of school, it would also be necessary to understand that the school boycott could have a significant long-term adverse impact on the children whose life the struggle seeks to reshape. In the absence of school over the next academic year, many students may simply skip school forever and their destiny will be ruined by a struggle that was designed to help them have a better life. Two academic years could be a long time in a girl’s life. In the absence of school, our young sisters and daughters will surely become vulnerable and there will always be people around to exploit that vulnerability. Many of them might become prey to predators and this could spell danger to a region that is seeking to fix everything at the same time. Anglophones are right in their quest for political and economic redress, but the search for redress should not pushed them into shooting themselves in the foot. The students can still return to school while the activists continue to pile pressure on a government that is already collapsing under the weight of age and illnesses.

Anglophone activists are a bunch of intelligent people. They can come up with new and innovative ways to pin down the government until it agrees to give the people what they want. But keeping children at home is like spoiling the future Anglophones want to fix. The key to a bright future is an education. Education, no matter how bad it may be, is better than ignorance. Living in ignorance is like living in perpetual darkness and that is not what we want for future generations. It is time to keep children out of the struggle. They have paid their own price and it is time to let them walk freely and happily to school so that they can look forward to replacing us wherever we are. Without an education, especially for the girl child, our future as West Cameroonians will be bleak. We do not want to build a nation or a region of illiterates or people who will carry the spirit of war in them all the time just because they have been robbed of that promise that could have put them in the world of great opportunities. Let’s give them a chance. The struggle should continue and must continue, but our children should be left out of it. I know this not going to be music to many ears, but if we want a bright future for our region, the region we all love, then we must let our children go back to school. Sending children back to school will not be a weakness. Our activists have demonstrated that they are capable of rendering West Cameroon ungovernable. This message has gotten across and I think the government will strive as much as it can to ensure that such a sticky situation does not end up on its hands again.

There are no doubt as to how the government can be made to feel the pain, but this advocacy for our kids to return to school cannot be the right place to throw up new ways that can make the government understand that an entire region is mad at it. The Anglophone community has smart and intellectual activists who can come up with new and innovative ways that will force the government to the negotiating table. Let’s not sacrifice the future just because we want to achieve our common goal today. This request is also a call for Anglophone activists to come up with new ways to challenge government authority in West Cameroon. Let’s take our children’s education and future out of the equation. Let’s use the same means that were employed to keep them out of school for one academic year to send them back to school. Let those call centers that were set up in Toronto, Houston, Washington DC, to advise parents not to send their children to school be used today to advise parents to let their children go back to school come September. Sending our children to school is not synonymous with yielding to government pressure. It is just testimony to our ability to reassess our strategies and to reinvent ourselves so as to achieve the bigger goal – that of achieving federalism or an independent Southern Cameroons.

By Dr. Joachim Arrey
Contributing Editor
Cameroon Concord News Group

About the Author: The author of this piece is a keen observer of Cameroon’s political and economic landscape. He has published extensively on the country’s political and economic development, especially in the early 90s when the wind of change was blowing across the African continent. He has served as a translator, technical writer, journalist and editor for several international organizations and corporations across the globe. He studied communication at the University of Leicester in the United Kingdom and technical writing in George Brown College in Toronto, Canada. He is also a trained translator and holds a Ph.D.


Justice Minister Laurent Esso under attack for squalid backing of Biya regime’s handling of the Anglophone Crisis

6, July 2017

Justice Minister Laurent Esso under attack for squalid backing of Biya regime’s handling of the Anglophone Crisis 0

The Biya Francophone regime has voted into law a Common Law Section within the Judicial Chamber of the Supreme Court. The bill was adopted in the Senate on the 4th of July 2017 in two readings. The controversial and anti Anglophone Minister of State in charge of Justice, Laurent Esso said that the project would make the Cameroonian law uniform.

The creation of the Common Law Section within the Judicial Chamber of the Supreme Court was defended in Parliament by Minister Laurent Esso. The bill was passed by the Senators on second reading. Senator Sonken, who asked for clarification on the bill, questioned the raison d’être behind the killing of innocent Southern Cameroonians and arresting hundreds in order to accept a project such as the Common Law Section in the Supreme Court.

Laurent Esso reportedly with too much blood in his hands remained defiant and said that the establishment of the Common Law Section within the Supreme Court was not made to resolve the problems raised in the context of the Anglophone crisis. He arrogantly observed that it is rather a section that is part of the reform process instituted by the President of the Republic in 2015.

Esso dabbled in a typical Francophone pattern and noted that “This bill addresses concerns that may become real problems tomorrow. It is not an adjustment of Anglophone law or Francophone law but a standardization of Cameroonian law.”

By Sama Ernest
Cameroon Concord News


Japan: 10 missing, 400,000 flee flooding

6, July 2017

Japan: 10 missing, 400,000 flee flooding 0

At least 10 people, including a child, were missing and 400,000 were forced from their homes after record rains battered southwestern Japan for a second day on Thursday, sending rivers surging over their banks, a government official and media said.

Parts of Fukuoka Prefecture on the southwestern island of Kyushu were hit by 774 mm of rain in nine hours on Wednesday, about 2.2 times the amount of rain that falls in a normal July, NHK national television said.
Some 7,500 rescuers, including police, firefighters, and soldiers from Japan’s Self Defense Forces, were mobilized to help with evacuations and search for the missing. Forty helicopters were on standby until the weather improved.

“There are many reports of people whose safety cannot be confirmed, things like ‘a child was swept away by the river’ and ‘my house was swept away and I can’t get in touch with my parents,'” chief cabinet secretary Yoshihide Suga told an emergency early morning news conference.

“We will keep in close contact with the disaster-hit areas and work with all our energy to save lives and ascertain the extent of the damage,” he said. Fukuoka and Oita prefectures, both largely rural areas, were the worst-hit by the rain, which was caused by a low pressure area on the Pacific Ocean that fed warm, moist air into Japan’s seasonal rainy front.

Residents spent a worried night at evacuation centers set up at schools and government buildings on high ground amid reports of landslides and flooded roads. “It wasn’t just the rain, there was thunder and lightning, too. I couldn’t see anything ahead of me,” one woman at an evacuation center told NHK.

A schoolboy sitting with his family told NHK, “I haven’t heard from some of my friends, and I’m really worried.” There were no immediate reports of major transportation problems, but television footage showed a railway line left broken and twisted by floodwaters.

The same area was pounded by heavy rain earlier this week from Tropical Storm Nanmadol, which has since passed out to sea. The rain in Japan comes on the heels of a storm system that caused severe flooding across southern China and that killed 56 people and cost almost $4 billion in damage.

(Source: Reuters)


Turkish President Erdogan says Saudi list of demands from Qatar not acceptable

6, July 2017

Turkish President Erdogan says Saudi list of demands from Qatar not acceptable 0

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has stressed that his country will remain loyal to Qatar and that a list of demands by Saudi Arabia and its allies from the Persian Gulf country are under no circumstances acceptable. “When it comes to this list of 13 items… it’s not acceptable under any circumstances,” said Erdogan in an interview with France 24 television on Wednesday.

He added that such demands are the equivalent of “stripping” Qatar of its statehood. Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Egypt and Bahrain all cut off diplomatic ties with Qatar on June 5, after officially accusing it of “sponsoring terrorism.”

On June 23, Saudi Arabia and its allies released a 13-point list of demands, including the severance of all Qatar’s ties with the Muslim Brotherhood and Lebanese Hezbollah resistance movement. The closing down of a Turkish military base in Qatar is one of the demands on the list. Erdogan stated the he was willing to close the base if Doha requested to do so.

“The Americans are also there, with 9,000 soldiers, and so are the French… Why are the Saudis disturbed by us and not by that? This is unacceptable,” he added. Meanwhile, the four Arab countries seeking to isolate Qatar have said in a statement that Doha’s response to their demands to end the Persian Gulf diplomatic crisis was “not serious.”
Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir talks to reporters during a joint press conference with his Emirati, Egyptian, and Bahraini counterparts after their meeting in the Egyptian capital Cairo on July 5, 2017. Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir also stated that the boycott of Qatar will continue until the Persian Gulf kingdom changes its policies in line with those of the Riyadh regime.

Source: Presstv


Yaounde: CamTel and China Unicom sign agreement to construct a South Atlantic Inter Link

5, July 2017

Yaounde: CamTel and China Unicom sign agreement to construct a South Atlantic Inter Link 0

China United Network Communications (China Unicom) has signed an agreement with Cameroon Telecom (CamTel) to construct a South Atlantic Inter Link (SAIL) cable network, 6,000-km. in length. China Unicom and CamTel will work with Huawei Marine Networks Co. Ltd., a submarine cable networks solutions provider, to connect an undersea cable that runs from Kribi Deep Sea Port, Cameroon to Fortaleza Brazil.

Total construction costs are expected to hit US$136 million and take about 24 months to complete. SAIL will possess the largest data transmission capacity between Africa and South America. SAIL would provide reliable intercontinental telecom services for Brazilians and Cameroonians. It’s the first large-scale project in the region led by one of the Big 3 Chinese Telecom operators and China-based equipment manufacturers.

China Unicom and CamTel are responsible for the building and maintenance of SAIL, while Huawei Marine Networks delivers systematic solutions. US$85 million of SAIL was funded by Export-Import Bank of China, while the remainder was covered by CamTel, which includes China Unicom financing US$34 million to the Cameroon-based telecom.

In Cameroon’s capital city – Yaounde – on June 27, Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd. Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Guo Ping, China Unicom CEO Lu Yimin and CamTel General Manager (GM) David Nkoto Emane, signed the formal agreement. “China has strategic partnerships with Africa and South America,” the Global Times quotes Lu as saying. “SAIL not only provides high-quality international communications services to countries in these two continents, but also serves Chinese companies to develop their business in the region.”

The project can advance Cameroon’s digital economy, so its nation’s citizens gain better access to phone service and the Internet. Huawei Marine Networks will utilize an advanced 100G technology system with 4 fiber optics pairs that holds a design capacity – 32T-bit/s. SAIL can bridge technology gaps in the South-South region, so Africans and South Americans can enjoy a brighter future.

Beijing has embarked on South-South Cooperation to boost trade, investments and infrastructure building in Africa and South America. Chinese companies are exploring new regions to open up manufacturing zones, tap into natural resources and to develop a growing consumers’ base in the emerging markets. Cameroon, located in Central Africa, offers major opportunities for Chinese firms.

“It is a great pleasure to partner with China Unicom and Huawei Marine Networks on building the SAIL cable system,” Emane told Global Times. He added, “When it is completed, it will provide new international connectivity to facilitate band-width demand between Africa and support the booming economies in the two continents.” In its current state, Cameroon’s cables cannot support all the telecom connections in the country. SAIL can build capacity to meet national coverage. China Unicom, the world’s 4th-largest mobile service provider by subscriber base, will extend its National Broadband Network (NBN) to Cameroon.

Constructing infrastructure that includes telecom networks along with roads and railways in Africa can help people on the continent rise above poverty. But Africans also need better education and job skills to succeed in our globalized economy.

Huawei Technologies has invited young Cameroonians to participate in a training project, known as “Seeds of the Future,” according to Business in Cameroon Website. After a careful selection process, 10 young Cameroonians will receive information and communications training (ICT) at Huawei’s headquarters in Shenzhen, China.
Trainees will participate in a 1-week program, attending lectures and practical classes to strengthen their knowledge, according to Li Dafeng, senior vice president of Huawei Group. Students can also interact with Huawei’s engineers and learn more about the latest innovations developed by the hi-tech giant.

Constructing an undersea fiberoptics cable line is no easy task, especially when telecom cable operators must stretch it to 6,000-km. in length. But, Chinese companies have introduced major equipment upgrades in the field. The people of Brazil and Cameroon will benefit tremendously from such advances, while Chinese investors and companies can expand into key emerging markets in South America and Africa.

China’s South-South Cooperation will open doors for Cameroon when SAIL is fully-connected and performing to capacity. Those living in Central Africa can dial up their phones, click on the internet to enjoy a more convenient connection with people, or to conduct business in a more efficient manner. Accordingly, SAIL will serve as the vital connector for Cameroon’s future and path to prosperity.

Source: CCTV.com


Swiss Ambassador bids farewell to Biya

5, July 2017

Swiss Ambassador bids farewell to Biya 0

President Paul Biya has met for the last time the outgoing Swiss Ambassador to Cameroon, Claude Altermatt. The Swiss diplomat is presently at the Unity Palace today Wednesday the 5th of July 2017 to thank the Cameroonian dictator for the hospitality received during his four-year stay in the country.

Both men have examined the bilateral ties between Cameroon and Switzerland including Cameroonian migrants residing in the small but beautiful European country.

Claude Altermatt has reportedly hailed the cordial relations existing between Cameroon and Switzerland and hoped that they will be further strengthened when the new ambassador takes office.

Source: CRTV


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