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4, October 2023

World Bank Expects Solid Growth but Risky Outlook for South Asia ⁰

South Asia is expected to grow by 5.8% this year—higher than any other developing country region in the world, but slower than its pre-pandemic pace and not fast enough to meet its development goals, says the World Bank in its twice-a-year regional outlook.

Released today, the latest South Asia Development Update, Toward Faster, Cleaner Growth forecasts growth to slow to 5.6% in 2024 and 2025, as post-pandemic rebounds fade and a combination of monetary tightening, fiscal consolidation, and reduced global demand weigh on economic activity.

Growth prospects are subject to downside risks, including due to fragile fiscal positions. Government debt in South Asian countries averaged 86% of GDP in 2022, increasing the risks of defaults, raising borrowing costs, and diverting credit away from the private sector. The region could also be affected by a further slowdown in China’s economic growth and natural disasters made more frequent and intense by climate change.

“While South Asia is making steady progress, most countries in the region are not growing fast enough to reach high-income thresholds within a generation,” said Martin Raiser, World Bank Vice President for South Asia. “Countries need to urgently manage fiscal risks and focus on measures to accelerate growth, including by boosting private sector investment and seizing opportunities created by the global energy transition.”

In India, which accounts for the bulk of the region’s economy, growth is expected to remain robust at 6.3% in FY23/24. Output in Maldives is expected to grow by 6.5% in 2023 and in Nepal is expected to rebound to 3.9% in FY23/24, thanks to the strong rebound in tourism in both countries. Several countries in the region are still suffering from the aftermaths of recent currency crises. In Bangladesh, growth will slow to 5.6% in FY23/24. In Pakistan, growth is forecast at only 1.7% in FY23/24, below the rate of population growth. Sri Lanka is showing signs of recovery after a severe recession and the economy is expected to grow by 1.7% in 2024, after contracting by 3.8% in 2023.

Constrained by fiscal challenges, governments have limited room to help their economies fully capitalize on the global energy transition. Though often seen as an additional burden for developing countries, for South Asia, the energy transition could present an opportunity for future growth and job creation—if it leads to more investments by firms, cuts air pollution, and reduces the reliance on fuel imports. Even with limited fiscal space, countries can encourage firms to adopt more energy-efficient technologies through market-based regulations, information campaigns, broader access to finance, and reliable power grids.

“South Asia’s energy intensity of output is about twice the global average and the region lags in the adoption of more advanced energy-efficient technologies,” said Franziska Ohnsorge, World Bank Chief Economist for South Asia. “Improvements in energy efficiency, in the context of a rapid global energy transition, are an opportunity for South Asia to make progress toward both environmental and economic goals.”

The energy transition will also have significant impacts on South Asia’s labor markets. Almost one-tenth of the region’s workers are employed in pollution-intensive jobs. These jobs are concentrated among lower-skilled and informal workers who are more vulnerable to labor market shifts. While the energy transition can help create more new jobs, it could also leave some workers stranded in declining industries. The report recommends a wide range of policies to protect such workers, including providing better access to high-quality education and training, finance, and markets; facilitating worker mobility; and strengthening social safety nets.

Culled from the World Bank

4, October 2023

FECAFOOT: Lawyers for Eto’o say he has not been notified of legal proceedings ⁰

Lawyers representing Samuel Eto’o, the president of the Cameroonian Football Federation (Fecafoot), have denied that the former striker has been notified of legal proceedings against him.

In a statement, French law firm Vey & Associes dismissed allegations made against the 42-year-old as “calumnious rumours”, adding that Eto’o had not been informed of any judicial action or been issued with any kind of summons.

Whilst widespread media reports claimed on Friday that the four-time African Player of the Year was facing action linked to match-fixing allegations, a Cameroonian police document spoke of allegations of “abuse of authority, corruption” and other unnamed claims.

These police reports appear to have been based on a redacted image of an official-looking document. Although the BBC has seen the image, it has not yet been able to obtain confirmation of its authenticity from the authorities in Cameroon.

This is not the first time Eto’o’s Fecafoot presidency has come into question recently.

Last week, a group of football officials in Cameroon sent an open letter to Fifa claiming that the world governing body had “remained silent” on allegations raised against Eto’o despite “numerous complaints and reminders from Cameroonian football actors”.

The signatories of the letter included Fecafoot executive committee member Guibai Gatama as well as the president and vice-president of the Professional Football League of Cameroon, the organisation that runs league competitions in the country.

Alleging that the former Barcelona, Inter Milan and Chelsea player “continues to illegally impose himself on the Fecafoot presidency”, the letter said the situation was “perhaps even more serious” than the case involving former Spanish Football Federation president Luis Rubiales and World Cup winner Jenni Hermoso, which resulted in Fifa suspending Rubiales for 90 days and initiating disciplinary proceedings against him.

It also accused Fifa of operating a “two-speed management” between Africa and Europe which had allowed the continent to become “a kind of enclave where you can take liberties with the ethics and exemplarity that sports leaders should embody”.

Responding to the letter, Vey & Associes said Eto’o had launched a series of reforms to reorganise Cameroonian football leadership and was supported by “the vast majority of stakeholders”.

They also described the letter as “harmful” and “defamatory”, adding that Eto’o’s “bold policy change” would arouse “resistance from individuals ready to do anything to avoid losing their income from corruption”.

In July, a group representing amateur clubs in Cameroon called on Eto’o to resign and cited “grave irregularities” within Fecafoot following an 11-1 vote by Cameroon’s Amateur Clubs’ Association (ACFAC) in favour of asking him to stand down.

At the time, the BBC invited Fecafoot to comment on the nature of ACFAC’s claims but has received no response.

In August, the Confederation of African Football (Caf) began an investigation into allegations of improper conduct made against Eto’o, stating it had received “written statements from several Cameroonian football stakeholders” and would be “looking into these requests based on and in accordance with the Caf statutes and regulations”.

A Caf statement also said that on first impression the allegations looked “serious” but Eto’o would be “presumed innocent until an appropriate judicial body concludes otherwise”.

The BBC is also yet to receive comment from Fecafoot on Caf’s investigation.

During a glittering playing career, Eto’o was named African Footballer of the Year on four occasions, won three Uefa Champions League titles and represented Cameroon 115 times, winning two Africa Cup of Nations with the Indomitable Lions.

Source: BBC

3, October 2023

Franck Biya, in the shadow of his corrupt and ailing father ⁰

He is not officially a candidate for anything and has never publicly leaked the slightest ambition. But her slender silhouette is increasingly visible in official meetings, on social networks and the images distilled by the Cameroonian presidency. A new presence which inevitably raises questions in a country where discussions around the succession of the “captain” are less and less theoretical: is Franck Biya positioning himself to inherit the presidential chair occupied for forty years by his father Paul, 90 years old since February 13?

In central Africa where, from Chad to Gabon, via the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), political dynasties have become a norm, seeing Franck Biya, 52, appearing behind the scenes of the Cameroonian presidency is a sign, even if everyone will be careful not to consider it as a dubbing. We can no longer count the ambitious people and putative successors struck down by the courts when their intentions became too clear. Kondengui prison in Yaoundé has become, for more than ten years, the place of residence of many ministers and secretaries general of the presidency.

Franck Biya remained in the shadows. Eldest son of the indestructible president and his first wife, Jeanne-Irène, who died in 1992, he did part of his studies at the University of South Carolina, then lived for a long time in France. A businessman, he invested, among other things, in real estate and forestry.

“He doesn’t waste money on nightclubs”

His discretion did not prevent non-governmental organizations (NGOs) from looking into his affairs. In 2012, Afrione Cameroun, one of his companies, was cited in a case of embezzlement of public funds. In 2020, Greenpeace claimed that it was “the minority shareholder” of South Cameroon Hévéa (subsidiary of Halcyon, global rubber giant), a company that the nature protection NGO accused of deforestation of several thousand hectares of forests. He never reacted to these accusations.

The person concerned says nothing about the intentions attributed to him by chroniclers from the Etoudi palace, but does nothing to deny them either. When Emmanuel Macron sets foot in Yaoundé in July 2022, the road from the airport to the capital is dotted with banners and signs calling for his candidacy. The authorities will quickly have them removed, but no observer will miss the handshake between Franck Biya and the French leader in the corridors of the presidency. In November, another appearance, this time in Garoua, the capital of the Northern region, to celebrate the forty years of Paul Biya’s accession to the presidency. The opportunity for a first contact with the activists of the Cameroon Peoples Democratic Movement (CPDM), the ruling party.

Culled from Globe Echo

3, October 2023

Time to resolve Southern Cameroons persistent yet forgotten crisis ⁰

Cameroon’s Anglophone conflict undermines national unity and is arguably the most damaging of the country’s multiple crises. It sparked demands for secession and led to separatists proclaiming a new state of Ambazonia in the country’s English-speaking North West and South West regions on 1 October 2017. The regions are home to about 20% of the population.

Celebrations surrounding ‘Independence Day’ are typically marred by clashes between government forces and armed separatist groups. Violent attacks during this year’s commemoration underscore the depth of the problem that seems forgotten.

The crisis was sparked in October 2016 when demands by teachers and lawyers for reform of the English-speaking regions’ educational and judicial systems were brutally suppressed. The authorities’ violent response to citizens’ concerns about the marginalisation of Anglophone linguistic and educational systems and the underrepresentation of English-speaking Cameroonians in politics turned into an ongoing political crisis.

The government made some concessions, including a Major National Dialogue in 2019, but failing to invite key separatist leaders, achieved little. Decisions stemming from the dialogue led to the granting of an ambiguous ‘special status’, with supposed autonomy, to the regions.

In October 2022, discreet talks between government and Anglophone leaders in the diaspora signalled interest in formal negotiations. However, these efforts haven’t quelled the separatist rebellion, which has claimed over 6 000 lives and internally displaced 630 000 people, with 86 000 seeking refuge in Nigeria.

A recent Amnesty International report details atrocities – including sexual and gender-based violence – by armed separatists, militias and security forces against civilians. The crisis has also disrupted hundreds of thousands of children’s education and halted socio-economic activities in the two regions.

Separatists have repeatedly expressed readiness for talks under international mediation

The government has intensified its pursuit of a military solution, hoping to take advantage of widening fragmentation between the armed separatist groups, which it calls ‘terrorists’. In early 2023, troops deployed to the North West attacked separatist positions.

Separatists are committed to fighting for an independent Ambazonia, regardless of the cost. They have repeatedly expressed readiness for talks under international mediation, but government won’t accept their conditions. These include the release of political prisoners, demilitarisation of the Anglophone regions and amnesty for exiled separatists.

The conflict continues to evade continental and international scrutiny. Besides some statements of concern by African Union (AU) Commission chairperson Moussa Faki Mahamat, the AU has done little. During Faki’s visit to Yaoundé in 2018, President Paul Biya committed to resolving the crisis, but these promises have fallen flat.

And despite the grave implications for stability in Central Africa, the AU’s Peace and Security Council (PSC) has yet to discuss the Cameroon crisis. As a PSC member, Cameroon likely blocks attempts by other member states to table the issue for debate.

Despite the grave implications for Central Africa’s stability, the AU PSC has not discussed the crisis

At the same time, the government has pulled the plug on mediation efforts. In September 2022, Biya halted a government-sponsored Swiss-led dialogue. A new initiative saw discreet pre-mediation meetings with several separatist groups in Canada late last year. Although the government denied seeking Canadian assistance, Canada’s foreign ministry maintained it had accepted an invitation from both parties to mediate.

Further political turmoil is brewing ahead of Cameroon’s 2025 general elections. Rival elites are jostling to succeed Biya, who has held power since 1982. He will be 92 when the polls open. Since gaining independence in 1960, Cameroon hasn’t had a single democratic transfer of power.

The military coup on 30 August that ousted Gabon’s Ali Bongo has had an unsettling effect in Cameroon. It forced Biya to reshuffle senior military roles and consolidate his power by reducing the influence of some security services branches and suppressing coverage linking Cameroon with coups.

Health problems could rule him out of the 2025 race, creating a power vacuum. Biya has reportedly been pursuing plans for his son Franck Biya to succeed him, although a dynastic succession would probably be unwelcome among the ruling Cameroon People’s Democratic Movement’s senior members. The military could exploit any succession-driven instability to justify a coup.

The country is also battling Boko Haram violence in the Far North. Fatalities from this conflict are well above 3 000, with at least 250 000 people displaced. Rebel incursions from the Central African Republic affect the country’s east, complicated by sporadic intercommunal clashes in the Far North and South. Farmer-herder tensions have also resurfaced between Nigerian pastoralists and Cameroonian farmers.

The PSC could deploy the Panel of the Wise as a preventive tool, instead of reacting after the country disintegrates

The nation is also grappling with a web of corruption scandals tied to the Africa Cup of Nations’ organisation in early 2022, and the assassination of journalist Martinez Zogo in January 2023.

Ahead of Ambazonia’s ‘Independence Day’, tensions soared in the North West and South West, and security forces stepped up attacks on separatist hideouts. Separatists have recently hardened their stance, enforced moratoriums on public life through ‘ghost towns’, threatened government employees, and increased violence against civilians. With both parties to the conflict unwilling to compromise, clashes will probably continue as economic and social neglect are further entrenched in the Anglophone regions.

The crisis cannot be ignored. The PSC must table Cameroon for discussion, especially as the Economic Community of Central African States – which has rarely tackled conflicts in its member countries – is unlikely to deal with the matter. The PSC could recommend deploying the Panel of the Wise as a preventive diplomacy tool, instead of reacting only after the country disintegrates.

Cameroon’s international partners should press for inclusive dialogue to resume. Should talks gain traction, partners must highlight the need to strengthen governance and expedite decentralisation so the Anglophone regions benefit from the autonomy their ‘special status’ should have granted them.

Source: Institute for Security Studies

2, October 2023

Ambazonians march in Ground Zero on anniversary of independence ⁰

Hundreds of Southern Cameroonians marched in the rural areas to mark the anniversary of the proclamation of the independence of the Federal Republic of Ambazonia by President Sisiku Ayuk Tabe.

Carrying pro-independence flags and banners, the Southern Cameroonians chanted anti-French Cameroun slogans in Bui, Manyu, Ndian, Menchum, Fako and Mezam County.

Among the Ambazonia celebrants was the jailed leader President Sisiku Ayuk Tabe who tweeted that: “Today, on the 62nd anniversary of our stolen independence, we remember the resilience of our people. With your support, we restored our nation on October 1st, 2017. Let us continue to pursue peace through dialogue, despite the intransigence of the LRC government. “

“On this Independence Day, we honor the strength and determination of our people. We will not be silenced or denied our rights. As we rebuild our homeland, let us support the liberation movement and care for those in need. Together, we will hail the land of glory.”

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai

2, October 2023

Mali redeploys troops to rebel stronghold ⁰

The Malian army began redeploying troops on Monday towards the northern rebel stronghold of Kidal, two security officials said, amid a resumption of hostilities in the region.

“As part of the reorganisation of our arrangements in the north, we have begun the redeployment of our forces in the northeastern region of Kidal,” a Mali military official who spoke on condition of anonymity told AFP.

A convoy left the northern city of Gao, which lies 300 kilometres (185 miles) southwest of Kidal, early Monday, the source added.

Another security official said the convoy was made up of 119 vehicles and was currently stopped on the road to the north of Gao.

National security chiefs made the deployment decision at a meeting late on Sunday, he added.

Kidal is a crossroads region in the north that is not under the control of the Malian state but of a coalition of predominantly Tuareg groups called the Coordination of Azawad Movements (CMA).

Since the end of August, the north of Mali has seen a resumption of hostilities by the CMA and an intensification of jihadist attacks against the army.

The fact that Kidal is still controlled by the ex-rebels continues to pose a sovereignty issue and remains a source of irritation for Bamako, including for the junta.

Military leaders have made re-establishing state control across the whole country one of their main messages.

Source: AFP

2, October 2023

Nobel Prize goes to scientists behind mRNA Covid vaccines ⁰

The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine has been awarded to a pair of scientists who developed the technology that led to the mRNA Covid vaccines.

Professors Katalin Kariko and Drew Weissman will share the prize.

The technology was experimental before the pandemic, but has now been given to millions of people around the world to protect them against serious Covid-19.

The same mRNA technology is now being researched for other diseases, including cancer.

The Nobel Prize committee said: “The laureates contributed to the unprecedented rate of vaccine development during one of the greatest threats to human health in modern times.”

Both were told they had won by telephone this morning and were said to be “overwhelmed”.

Vaccines train the immune system to recognise and fight threats such as viruses or bacteria.

Traditional vaccine technology has been based on dead or weakened versions of the original virus or bacterium – or by using fragments of the infectious agent.

In contrast, messenger ribonucleic acid (mRNA) vaccines use a completely differently approach.

During the Covid pandemic, the Moderna and Pfizer/BioNTech vaccines were both based on mRNA technology.

Professor Kariko and Professor Weissman met in the early 1990s when they were working at the University of Pennsylvania, in the United States, when their interest in mRNA was seen as a scientific backwater.

Source: BBC

1, October 2023

Bishop Bibi honored for “exceptional” leadership skills ⁰

Bishop Michael Miabesue Bibi of the Catholic Diocese of Buea in Cameroon has been honored by the country’s NewsWatch Newspaper for his “exceptional skills” in leading the people of God and managing the property of the Cameroonian Episcopal See.

In a statement announcing the award, NewsWatch Editor-in-Chief, Ndi Eugene Ndi, said the Bishop who faced opposition following his appointment to the Diocese had achieved a lot in a short period.

“Bishop Bibi was named winner of the ‘Church Management Torchbearer Award’ for manifesting exceptional skills in leading God’s people in the Diocese of Buea and for tactfully restructuring Catholic University Institute of Buea (CUIB) to fulfill its mission of molding entry-level professionals with moral and spiritual values,” Ndi said in the statement that was shared with ACI Africa on Friday, September 29.

According to Ndi, Bishop Bibi had been announced the winner of the award during the 10th-anniversary celebration of NewsWatch newspaper in Yaounde on August 19. The newspaper has been under the aegis of the Minister of Communication, who was represented at the event by the Inspector General in the Ministry.

The NewsWatch official said that Bishop Bibi and other recipients of various awards were voted by the newspaper’s wide community of readers and the final results were compiled by a jury of experts made up of revered media men and women in the country

The chairman of the jury of experts, Viban Jude, recognized the Bishop of Buea for putting in place “major reforms including the suppression of doubtful Lay Associations of Christ’s faithful.”

“Even with all that Bishop Bibi has achieved in so short a time as chief shepherd of the Diocese of Buea, he has always said that his achievements are not because of him alone but thanks to the marvelous collaboration he has received from his Priests, the religious and the people of God in the Diocese of Buea,” Viban said.

In June 2020, Bishop Bibi made changes at the Catholic University Institute of Buea (CUIB), appointing Professor Victor Julius Ngoh as Vice Chancellor, a position previously held by Fr. George Nkeze Jingwa, whom the Bishop asked to take a sabbatical leave.

Members of the University Council disapproved of the change and dragged Bishop Bibi, then Apostolic Administrator of Buea Diocese, to court.

Source: aciAfrica

1, October 2023

CPDM Crime Syndicate: BEAC governor calls for vigilance against counterfeit banknotes ⁰

Only a few months after their release, forgers have already found a way to make the counterfeit versions of the new range of banknotes put into circulation on December 15, 2022.

Pending the dismantling of the counterfeiting network, Beac Governor Abbas Mahamat Tolli (pictured) called on the population to be more vigilant when handling these banknotes. “I invite users to be very careful every time they make transactions, and to make sure that the bills they receive are genuine”, he said at the end of the FY2023 third session of the Monetary Policy Committee (CPM), held on September 25 in Douala.

Abbas Mahamat Tolli pointed out that the new range of banknotes currently in circulation contains several security features that enable users to detect the real from the fake. “So far, there hasn’t really been a forgery that we’re afraid of. And the level of forgery is very minimal. People are not very vigilant”, he continued.

Indeed, the banknotes put into circulation on December 15 feature numerous security features, between nine and eleven in all, depending on the denomination. These features are visible and sometimes invisible to the naked eye. A special feature of these bills is that they can be identified by the visually impaired, thanks to tactile lines, which can be felt when touched, depending on the notes.

Source: Business in Cameroon

1, October 2023

Southern Cameroons Crisis: Gendarmerie commander killed in Awing ⁰

A Francophone commander of Cameroon’s National Gendarmerie has been killed in the Northern Zone, a source in the governor’s office told Cameroon Concord News.

Commander Betene Manga was in charge of anti Ambazonia operations at the gendarmerie post in Awing.

He was killed when Southern Cameroons restoration forces raided the Awing gendarmerie post on Thursday.

Ambazonia Revolutionary Guards said on social media that they kidnapped another Francophone security official and seized ammunition during the attack on Awing.

Amba fighters have been fighting to create an independent nation in Cameroon’s Anglophone regions of Northwest and Southwest since 2017.

By Fon Lawrence in Bamenda