23, March 2017
UN says Biya regime expelled 2,600 Nigerians fleeing Boko Haram 0
More than 2,600 Nigerians who fled into northern Cameroon to escape Boko Haram Takfiri militants have been forced to go home since the start of the year, the UN said Tuesday. Thousands of Nigerians have been displaced by the Boko Haram insurgency, which has seen deadly attacks since 2009 in pursuit of a caliphate in northern Nigeria.
Some 85,000 have sought refuge in Cameroon but the UN refugee agency said many had been sent back, with officials citing security reasons. “So far this year, Cameroon has forcefully returned over 2,600 refugees to Nigerian border villages against their will,” UNHCR spokesman Babar Baloch told reporters in Geneva.
He said UNHCR staff in Nigeria had heard and documented accounts about Cameroon troops forcing refugees to return to Nigeria, “without allowing them time to collect their belongings.” Baloch pointed to a case where refugees were rounded up during a military offensive against Boko Haram insurgents in the Mandara Mountains on the Cameroonian side of the border. They were then taken in trucks to a camp for displaced people in Banki, in Nigeria’s Borno State.
“Those returned included a one-year-old child and a nine-month pregnant woman, who gave birth the day after her arrival in Banki,” he said. “During the chaos families were separated and some women were forced to leave their young children behind in Cameroon, including a child less than three years old,” he added.
The UNHCR said it was particularly alarmed to see that the forced returns were continuing unabated after its previous protests and even after the governments of Nigeria and Cameroon signed an agreement with the UN on March 2 to ensure voluntary returns when possible. “While recognising the legitimate national security concerns of the Cameroon government, UNHCR reminds authorities that refugees are themselves fleeing violence and attacks from Boko Haram and that their access to asylum and protection must be ensured,” the agency said.
Baloch stressed that the forced return of asylum seekers and refugees constitutes refoulement, which is a serious violation of international law. Though Boko Haram was born in Nigeria, the Daesh-affiliated group has carried out frequent attacks in Cameroon, Chad and Niger, prompting the formation of a regional force to fight back. Some 200,000 Cameroonians from the Far North region near Nigeria have left their villages in fear of the violence.
Presstv
23, March 2017
Camair-Co to acquire new generation planes 0
The Cameroon Airlines Company, Camair Co is expected to acquire new generation planes to boosts it’s haggard and grounded fleet. The company that currently has only five planes is presently under a seven year restructuring plan with America’s Boeing Company. The overall objective of the reforms is to revamp the company and get it back to business.
According to the Director General of Cameroon Airlines Corporation, Ernest Dikoum, the priority of the company presently is to give priority to local and sub continental flights. Ernest Dikoum says strict measures will be put in place to end the issuance of free tickets; accordingly, even government officials will have to pay flight tickets.
Camair-Co intends to fly 23 destinations including eight local flights to Bafoussam, Bamenda, Yaoundé, Douala, Bertoua, Ngaoundéré, Maroua, and Garoua. The company has also scheduled regular flights to four inter-continental airports including Bruxelles, Paris, Washington, and London. At the regional level, eleven destinations have been scheduled: Abidjan, Bamako, Bangui, Cotonou, Johannesburg, Kinshasa, Libreville, Ndjamena and Lagos.
As the airliner seeks to regain its clientele and enhance customer satisfaction and efficiency in service delivery, it has sort the expertise of the aero plane manufacture Boeing in the elaboration and implementation of its seven year restricting plan. The Minister of Transport, Edgard Alain Mebe Ngo’o, presented the details of the restructuring plan during a ceremony in Yaoundé attended by the Minister Delegate for Transport Méfiro Oumarou, chairman of the board of Administration of Camair-Co.
The new plan replaces that elaborated June last year. It lays emphasis on the acquisition of new air carriers and the diversification of destinations. According to the director of sales at Boeing, Michael Bangue-Tandet, in the next seven years the company will acquire twelve new passenger planes and a cargo plane and two turbo propulseurs 777 200 ER (Extended Range) as temporal measures while expecting the Boeing 787 in the course of the third and fourth year.
In line with the plan, Camairco will purchase a 737 cargo plane in the first year while the MA60, the 737 and the SF will be replaced in five years by new generation aeroplanes. In the course of the second and third year, turbo propulseurs Q400 manufactured by Bombardier will be added while the 737 800 will be acquired to boost regional flights. In the meantime, the 767, christened the Dja will be revised and used for support missions. The 787 will be returned to their owners after two or three years of exploitation.
In July 2020, the company will acquire two Boeing 787 “Dream liner”. Minister Edgard Alain Mebe Ngo’o, noted that one of the two Dreamliners will be available by December 2018, Ahead of the Africa Cup of Nations, AFCON 2019. The rehabilitation of Camair Co has been estimated at 60 billion CFA francs and so far, 30 billion CFA francs has already been raised by a consortium of banks lead by Ecobank.
The Minister added that the remaining 30 billion CFA francs will be provided by the government of Cameroon. The Transport boss commended the management team of Camair Co for raising the punctuality of flights by the national carrier to 76% and performing 72 domestic flights per week. He says this is proof of management’s ability to efficiently carryout the renovation of the company.
CRTV