6, June 2016
Marole Tchamba in US 0
The Bend Skin star will this Saturday begin a tour of the USA starting from Silver Spring, Maryland!!
CIN
6, June 2016
The Bend Skin star will this Saturday begin a tour of the USA starting from Silver Spring, Maryland!!
CIN
6, June 2016
The Speaker of the National Assembly, Yéguié Cavaye Djibril has voiced concerns about the goings-on in the Cameroon Airlines Corporation (Camair-Co). Some reports have suggested that MPs from both the ruling CPDM party and the SDF opposition have decided to speak with one voice on the poor bill of health of Camair-Co. Speaker Cavaye Djibril fired the first salvo on June the 2nd during his opening speech to the House when he observed that the company was indeed “sick”.
Honorable Joshua Osih, Vice President of the SDF parliamentary group noted that something should done and done in a hurry to remedy the situation. Joshua Osih reminded the House that Camair-Co belongs to the Cameroonian taxpayer. Our National Assembly correspondent who contributed to this report revealed the MPs are worried about the airlines company. The MPs want an immediate speed up in the recovery process of Camair-Co. An audit of the company has already been ordered.
CIR
6, June 2016
At least two people have lost their lives and six others sustained injuries during clashes between Kenya’s police and protesters demanding the dissolution of the country’s electoral commission prior to next year’s presidential election. The casualties occurred on Monday in the western Kenyan city of Kisumu as police opened fire to disperse protesters during the latest in a series of rallies by opposition groups and their supporters demanding that the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) be scrapped for allegedly being biased.
Carrying banners, the protesters who are all Raila Odinga loyalists blocked the roads with burning tires and stones in both Kisumu and the country’s capital of Nairobi, and chanted the slogan “IEBC must go.” “We have confirmed two people shot dead. We are yet to establish the circumstances,” said Dennis Onyango, a spokesman for Kenya’s main opposition group, the Coalitions for Reforms and Democracy (CORD). The Red Cross in the East African country said six protesters suffering from gunshot wounds had been taken to hospital.
Presstv/CIR
6, June 2016
Disgraced former president of the Cameroon Football Federation FECAFOOT and former General Manager of the Cameroon Cotton Development Company SODECOTTON, Iya Mohammed has returned to his prison cell at Kondengui after spending eleven days at the National Social Insurance Hospital in the nation’s capital Yaounde. Cameroon Intelligence Report learnt Iya was admitted there since May the 24th.
Sources close to the detainee’s family reported that the situation was not serious. Iya Mohammed was arrested in 2013 on charges of embezzlement in SODECOTON. He was tried by the Special Criminal Court in September 2015 and sentenced to 15 years in prison. Iya was found guilty of diversion and coercion of over 10 billion CFA francs in the period 2005 – 2010. He secretly funded Coton Sport of Garoua with money from SODECOTON.
6, June 2016
The General Manager of the Cameroon News and Publishing Corporation (SOPECAM) Marie-Claire Nnana was recently taken aback when the board chairman, Joseph Le, Deputy Director of President Biya’s civil cabinet put his foot down at the ongoing crisis meeting between the two parties to insist that he can still appoint persons within the corporation without holding any board meeting.
Explaining his position of authority, Joseph LE has signed decisions in four areas of SOPECAM. The decisions that were read over state radio and television, promoted Ignatius Ozela Claude to technical director, Koume Honore, parachuted to the Sales and Marketing department, Ngane Gustave now heads Administration and Finance while Olinga Biyo’o Georges leads Management Control service.
Cameroon Tribune, the newspaper edited by SOPECAM published just a part of the Joseph Le decision bearing the appointments of Ozela Claude Ignatius and Koume Honore leaving out the names of Ngane Gustav and Olinga Biyo’o. An aide to the GM was quoted as saying the Deputy Director of the Civil Cabinet at the Presidency of the Republic was staging a coup at SOPECAM. Marie-Claire Nnana was heard murmuring privately that what Joseph Le has done is in her view totally irresponsible. Cameroon Intelligence Report understands Marie-Claire Nnana is out of the country on a CPDM mission. Our source at SOPECAM hinted that it will need the intervention of the head of state for things to normalize at SOPECAM.
6, June 2016
Unidentified gunmen have killed yet another journalist in the Somali capital city of Mogadishu, as acts of murder persist against members of the media in the conflict-ridden African country. Sagal Salad Osman, a presenter and producer for the state-run Radio Mogadishu station, was gunned down outside a university in Mogadishu’s northwestern neighborhood of Hodan. The assailants managed to flee the scene after the shooting, her colleagues said.
“Three men armed with pistols killed (her)… We heard gunfire and we rushed to the scene, the gunmen had already escaped,” Major Nur Ali, a police officer, said. “She was rushed to hospital but she died on the way. They killed her near a college campus where she studied. We believe al-Shabab is behind her killing,” he added, referring to the Takfiri militant group active in Somalia.
Ali Abdulkadir, who works at the Muqdisho radio station, said, “We are very much devastated about the news of her death and we don’t know why she was killed.” Last December, Hindiyo Haji Mohamed, a journalist for Radio Mogadishu and Somali National TV networks, sustained grave injuries when a bomb planted inside her car went off in Mogadishu. She later died of her injuries. Two men convicted of the act of terror were executed in April.
Presstv
6, June 2016
US Democratic presidential hopeful Bernie Sanders has attacked both his Democratic and Republican rivals, following the latest primary victory by fellow Democrat Hillary Clinton. Sanders on Sunday called on Americans to refrain from voting for either Republican presidential contender Donald Trump or Clinton in November’s election. Addressing supporters in San Diego, California, Sanders blasted Trump for “insulting” women, minorities and veterans in the US while taking a swipe at Clinton for using “Wall Street” money for campaign.
The comments come after Clinton won the Democratic primary in Puerto Rico. The Democratic frontrunner grabbed more than 64 percent of the vote against her rival Sanders. The former secretary of state has now bagged all 60 delegates at stake in the island territory. The victory gives Clinton a significant boost in the long-fought battle for the party’s presidential nomination. It comes ahead of Tuesday’s culminating round in the states of California, New Jersey, New Mexico, South Dakota and Montana. Meanwhile, Clinton once again slammed her leading Republican challenger over some of his comments, saying she would lead a contentious campaign against Trump.
Clinton added that she would use every opportunity to point out why she believes Trump should never get near the White House. She made the remarks in an event in Sacramento. Since Trump became the presumptive Republican nominee in early May, Clinton has directly challenged his ability to handle foreign policy issues and has taken to labeling him a “loose cannon” who will make it more difficult for Washington to operate on the global stage. Recently, Trump slammed Clinton for her foreign policy ‘debacles,’ calling for her to be put behind bars over her “bad judgments.” This year’s US presidential race has been specially marred by countless instances of scandals, mudslinging and onstage vulgarity, where rivals have time and again seized opportunities to blacken their opponents and push them down the gutter.
Presstv
6, June 2016
Egypt, Senegal, Algeria, Morocco and Cameroon have so far clinched their qualification spots for the final phase of the tournament in Gabon. Six of the sixteen teams to take part in the final phase of the African Cup of Nations to take place early next year in Gabon are already known. They are namely, Egypt, Senegal, Algeria, Morocco, Cameroon and host country Gabon. While Gabon got her qualification from the office by winning the bid to host the 2017 edition of the tournament, the others had to slot it out from the green turf of the pitch after taking an unassailable lead in their respective groups.
Egypt and Morocco were the first countries to qualify and will be making a return to the continental scene after having missed out on the 2015 edition of the tournament in Equatorial Guinea. Egypt simply didn’t qualify after having been stunned by little known Republic of Congo in the last and crucial qualification match. Meanwhile Morocco was banned from taking part in the competition after refusing to host the competition because of Ebola scare.
The sentence was higher but Morocco appealed the decision and the ban was lifted. After winning the legal battle Morocco also won on the pitch of play dominating Group F earning 12 points in four outings. Egypt equally sailed through Group G virtually unperturbed with 10 points in four outing with Nigeria coming distant second in the group with barely two points.
Algeria and Senegal also picked up their qualification tickets before the last day of play of the qualifiers top come up during the weekend running from September second to third. Algeria sailed through Group G with flying colours obtaining 13 points in five outings and can no longer be caught up by the runners up of the group, Ethiopia with barely five points.
Meanwhile Senegal witnessed an unbeaten run in Group K winning all fifteen points up for grab in the group so far and will also be making a return to the continental scene in Gabon. Cameroon as already known picked up the lone qualification ticket in Group M after butting out the last surviving contender, Mauritania in the fifth qualification match on Friday June 3rd.
The rest of the qualified nations will be known after the last day of play of the qualifiers on September second and third. Besides the respective group leaders, the overall best runners-up of all the 13 groups join the host for the final phase of the competition in Gabon.
Cameroon Tribune
6, June 2016
Twenty four investigators from the National Gendarmerie and National Police Corps on June 3, 2016 in Yaounde completed a 12-day training in terrorist crime scene investigation. The training, carried out by several instructors deployed by the government of the United States of America (USA), was the second out of five modules related to the fight against terrorism.
After handing over end-of-course attestations to the trainees at the Judicial Police Training Centre of the National Gendarmerie, Yeyap Barracks last Friday, the Secretary of State in the Ministry of Defence in charge of the National Gendarmerie, Jean Baptiste Bokam, expressed gratitude for the increasing multifarious assistance given by Cameroon’s strategic partner, the USA.
He expressed hope that the training, which started on May 23, 2016, will help alleviate several shortcomings observed in the handling of terrorist-related crime scenes since the country started receiving Boko Haram attacks. In this vein, US Ambassador to Cameroon, H.E. Michael Stephen Hoza, reassured that the training will enhance Cameroonian security services’ ability to investigate terrorist attacks and help the military and other branches of the government stop Boko Haram bomb makers and other threats. The US diplomat also handed over 24 sets of kits to the centre for training in counter-terrorism crime scene investigations.
Cameroon Tribune
6, June 2016
Nigeria: International Crisis Group sounds a note of caution on military reform 0
Nigeria’s military is in distress. Once among Africa’s strongest and a mainstay of regional peacekeeping, it has become a flawed force. The initially slow, heavy-handed response to the Islamist Boko Haram insurgency raised serious concerns, and its human rights record underscores a grave disconnect with civilians. President Muhammadu Buhari has taken some steps to reverse the decline and has recorded significant gains against Boko Haram, but ongoing prosecution of former chiefs for graft have further deepened the military’s reputation as poorly governed and corrupt. The government and military chiefs, working with the National Assembly, civil society and international partners, need to do much more: implement comprehensive defence sector reform, including clear identification of security challenges; a new defence and security policy and structure to address them; and drastic improvement in leadership, oversight, administration and accountability across the sector.
The decline began during 33 years of military dictatorship that took a serious toll on professionalism, operational effectiveness and accountability. Return to democratic rule in 1999 raised hopes the institution could be restored, but successive civilian governments’ pledges of much-needed reforms proved largely rhetorical. Presidents, defence ministry and parliament lacked the commitment and expertise to implement significant changes. They left the military badly governed, under-resourced and virtually adrift. Administration and accountability deteriorated throughout the sector. Poor, indeed lacking senior leadership has been compounded by equally poor legislative oversight and defence headquarters coordination and planning.
Until recently, the military was under-resourced, with comparatively low budgets, disbursed irregularly and unpredictably. From 2000 to 2008, its budget was less than 3 per cent of overall government expenditure. From 2009 to 2014, it increased to an average of 7.2 per cent of government spending ($5-$6 billion); but, as in the past, this was still allocated disproportionately to recurrent expenditures, leaving very little for crucial capital investment.
Corruption is system-wide. Legislators often manipulate the appropriation process at the National Assembly to serve private business interests rather than benefit the armed forces. Dubious procurement practices, fraudulently bloated payrolls, poor financial management and weak auditing systems at the national security adviser’s office, the defence ministry and armed services headquarters often mean funds are diverted to private or non-military purposes; arms, ammunition and other equipment are sometimes substandard and not always delivered. Inadequate funding, corrupt procurement and poor maintenance result in serious equipment and logistics deficits.
For a country of over 170 million people, facing several security challenges – from an Islamist insurgency in the north east to a resource-based conflict in the Niger Delta – a military numbering less than 120,000 personnel (all services) is clearly inadequate. Under-staffing reflects poor planning and a dubious recruitment system, but also is further aggravated by over-stretch induced by deployments in over two dozen internal security operations. Training institutions are short of facilities and instructors, lack training modules, and because they are largely focused on conventional operations, somewhat outdated. Personnel are under-motivated due to low pay, poor welfare services and bleak post-service prospects.
The military’s poor human rights record has had a debilitating impact on effectiveness. Serious abuse of civilian communities, from the Ogoni (in the mid-1990s) to Odi (1999) and Zaki Biam (2001), and more recent extrajudicial killings, mostly in the context of countering militant and separatist groups from Boko Haram and the Islamic Movement of Nigeria (IMN) to the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), have alienated citizens, whose cooperation is crucial for successful internal security operations.
The cumulative effect is a military deeply challenged in its primary function of defending the country and its citizens. It has been able to reverse Boko Haram’s advance since early 2015 only with help from the forces of Nigeria’s poorer neighbours and support from foreign technicians and mercenaries.
Since assuming office in May 2015, President Buhari has appointed new and more competent service chiefs, relocated the military command centre dedicated to the fight against Boko Haram to the north east and probed past weapons procurement. These actions have had salutary effects, but the benefits will be short-lived unless they are followed by formulation and implementation of a comprehensive reform program that encompasses the entire defence management spectrum, including leadership, oversight and administration. Failure to implement such reforms would leave the military distressed and Nigerians vulnerable to the current and future security challenges.
International Crisis Group