About soter

Posts by :

26, April 2023

Boko Haram: Biya regime to redeploy troops to CAR, Nigeria borders amid spike in attacks ⁰

Cameroon’s military plans to redeploy troops to its borders with Nigeria and the Central African Republic after an increase in attacks from militants and rebels.

The military said hundreds of Boko Haram fighters are hiding in the bush after last week’s invasion of the Mayo Moskota district on the northern border with Nigeria. The Cameroon government reported several hundred homes were set on fire, leaving thousands homeless.

Joseph Beti Assomo, Cameroon’s defense minister, said President Paul Biya ordered him to convene an emergency security meeting in Yaounde this week to examine ways of stopping the attacks.

Assomo said a resurgence of Boko Haram attacks is causing untold suffering on civilians on the border with Nigeria after a long period of relative peace. He said militias created by civilians are struggling to combat thousands of Islamist extremists who have been crossing to Cameroon from Nigeria since January to commit atrocities on civilians and government troops.

Assomo, who spoke on Tuesday during the top security meeting also attended by police chiefs, said a week hardly goes by without large-scale attacks by the extremists.

Northern border villagers said Cameroon’s military began withdrawing troops when Abubakar Shekau, the leader of the Boko Haram terror group, was declared killed. Nigeria’s government confirms Shekau died in May 2021.

Cameroon’s military denied accusations that troops have abandoned civilians. The military said it has changed its strategy, but the protection of civilians and their property remains a priority.

Meanwhile, the military said the security meeting concluded that Central African Republic rebels fleeing clashes with the U.N. peacekeeping force known as MINUSCA are regularly crossing into eastern Cameroon for supplies. The rebels also abduct civilians for ransom.

Military officials said they have examined ways of fully stopping separatist attacks in Cameroon’s western regions. Separatists have been fighting to carve out an independent English-speaking state from the French majority nation since 2017.

Deben Tchoffo, governor of the Northwest region, said the military is in control of all 34 districts in Cameroon’s English-speaking Northwest region, despite separatists attacking civilians and burning public edifices at regular intervals. Many civilians have returned to their villages, and children are returning to schools in huge numbers which, he added, is an indication that current attacks by fighters are like the last kicks of a dying horse.

Cameroon’s military said it will redeploy troops to western regions and the borders with Nigeria and Central African Republic. The government said troops will be deployed to new areas where separatists, terrorists and rebels are attacking, but did not say how many forces will be deployed or redeployed.

In March, 2,500 troops graduated from Cameroon’s military training institutes. The government said it will train 3,000 fresh troops within the next 20 months to protect civilians and their property all over the central African state.

Source: VOA

26, April 2023

Ireland: Cameroonian women travel to Dublin to thank nuns who taught them ⁰

A group of 21 women are travelling to Dublin to show their appreciation for Irish nuns who taught them in Cameroon during the 1980s.

The women, who are all graduates of Lourdes Secondary School for Girls in Mankon, a town in western Cameroon, will be paying tribute to the Holy Rosary Sisters, who empowered them when they were teenagers.

The group, who called themselves the “Pacesetters”, include members who have worked and travelled the world, some earning PhDs and Masters with careers in engineering, nursing, medicine and more.

They are due to land in Dublin Airport this afternoon.

Dr Claire Minang, one of the students from the class of 1986, said the trip was an opportunity to thank the sisters.

“They gave us everything we needed to excel in the world when we got out. That’s why we’re so grateful,” she told RTÉ News.

During their trip to Dublin, the group will be visiting Sr Mary Neville, 90, who served as their principal.

For Nagella Nwana Nukuna, now a technical manager at DuPont, the multinational chemicals firm, the school, while strict and structured, allowed them to grow.

“They were loving sisters to us. And, as we have grown up, we could all see that that level of structure is sometimes good,” Ms Nakuna said.

Although Sr Mary has long since retired, she remembers her time at the school, and her time with her girls fondly.

She said that each of the women appreciated the opportunity of education, during a time when it was generally the males that went to highs school and further education.

“The girls were anxious to make the best of their opportunity, and they worked very hard. I found them very conscientious and responsible people,” she said.

Sr Mary also applauded their parents who sent them to the school, acknowledging that, for many, it was a big financial sacrifice.

During her time there, she tried to ensure the best learning environment, working closely with the other teachers and prefects, even banning corporal punishment.

“I encouraged them to say what kind of school they want, how are you going to achieve that and having great pride in your own compound, in your school and in your own family” Sr Mary said.

Nogwa Fonjoe, who now works in cloud computing, remembers joining the school. She said that she had initially felt homesick after leaving her parents’ home.

However, despite the often strict curriculum and daily structure, she credits Sr Mary and the rest of the Holy Rosary Sisters for teaching her discipline.

Speaking to RTÉ News, she said it helped the students be more organised.

“It helped us appreciate what a good education is and we’re able to pass that on as well to our children.”

Today, the women are all still in touch with each other, regularly in contact through WhatsApp and supporting each other through their milestones.

For Sr Mary, it is an opportunity to reunite with the girls she once knew and celebrate the heights they have reached.

“Now they’ll be women, some of them grandmothers, well dressed and very mature. I’m so excited to be meeting them again.”

Source: RTE

25, April 2023

US: Joe Biden announces 2024 presidential run ⁰

US President Joe Biden has confirmed he’s seeking re-election with Vice President Kamala Harris as his running mate in 2024

Aged 80, Biden is already the oldest US president in history and would be 86 at the end of a second term, a cause of concern for some voters

Biden launched his campaign on social media early Tuesday morning, with a three-minute video that begins with a one-word pitch: freedom

Republicans were clearly ready for this. Soon after the launch, the party released a statement calling the Democrat “out of touch” for seeking re-election and claiming US citizens were counting down the days until they can send him “packing”

Donald Trump has already launched his bid for the Republicans, meaning the pair could be set for a rematch of the 2020 election in November 2024 – but there are still many candidates to declare.

Source: BBC

25, April 2023

French Cameroun: Boko Haram attack in Far North kills six soldiers ⁰

Six soldiers from the so-called 42 mechanized division were killed when a Boko Haram mine exploded early Monday April 24 2023 in the Mayo-Tsanaga Division.

The attack happened on the Bovongola-Zeleved road.

It comes two weeks after a Boko Haram assault on a military convoy in the same area that left four Cameroon government army soldiers dead.

The Islamist group is based in the Federal Republic of Nigeria but is being tackled by a multinational force, including soldiers from Cameroon.

In the latest attack, two other soldiers were wounded. Yaoundé deployed outdated military helicopters to try and track those responsible soon afterwards.

In the nation’s capital, President Paul Biya was busy celebrating 29 years of a ‘blissful’ marriage to his wife, Chantal Biya, who is noted for her flaming red hair.

By Nelly Epupa with files and additional reporting from Rita Akana and Soter Agbaw-Ebai

25, April 2023

World Bank Says Better Migration Policies Can Help Boost Prosperity in All Countries ⁰

Populations across the globe are aging at an unprecedented pace, making many countries increasingly reliant on migration to realize their long-term growth potential, according to a new report from the World Bank.

The World Development Report 2023: Migrants, Refugees, and Societies, identifies this trend as a unique opportunity to make migration work better for economies and people. Wealthy countries as well as a growing number of middle-income countries—traditionally among the main sources of migrants—face diminishing populations, intensifying the global competition for workers and talent. Meanwhile, most low-income countries are expected to see rapid population growth, putting them under pressure to create more jobs for young people.

“Migration can be a powerful force for prosperity and development,” said World Bank Senior Managing Director Axel van Trotsenburg. “When it is managed properly, it provides benefits for all people — in origin and destination societies.”

In the coming decades, the share of working-age adults will drop sharply in many countries. Spain, with a population of 47 million, is projected to shrink by more than one third by 2100, with those above age 65 increasing from 20% to 39% of the population. Countries like Mexico, Thailand, Tunisia and Türkiye may soon need more foreign workers because their population is no longer growing.

Beyond this demographic shift, the forces driving migration are also changing, making cross-border movements more diverse and complex. Today, destination and origin countries span all income levels, with many countries such as Mexico, Nigeria, and the U.K. both sending and receiving migrants. The number of refugees nearly tripled over the last decade. Climate change threatens to fuel more migration. So far, most climate-driven movements were within countries, but about 40% of the world’s population—3.5 billion people—lives in places highly exposed to climate impacts.

Current approaches not only fail to maximize the potential development gains of migration, they also cause great suffering for people moving in distress. About 2.5% of the world’s population—184 million people, including 37 million refugees—now live outside their country of nationality. The largest share—43%—lives in developing countries.

The report underscores the urgency of managing migration better. The goal of policymakers should be to strengthen the match of migrants’ skills with the demand in destination societies, while protecting refugees and reducing the need for distressed movements. The report provides a framework for policymakers on how to do this.

“This World Development Report proposes a simple but powerful framework to aid the making of migration and refugee policy,” said Indermit Gill, Chief Economist of the World Bank Group and Senior Vice President for Development Economics. “It tells us when such policies can be made unilaterally by destination countries, when they are better made plurilaterally by destination, transit and origin countries, and when they must be considered a multilateral responsibility.”

Origin countries should make labor migration an explicit part of their development strategy. They should lower remittance costs, facilitate knowledge transfers from their diaspora, build skills that are in high demand globally so that citizens can get better jobs if they migrate, mitigate the adverse effects of “brain drain,” protect their nationals while abroad, and support them upon return.

Destination countries should encourage migration where the skills migrants bring are in high demand, facilitate their inclusion, and address social impacts that raise concerns among their citizens. They should let refugees move, get jobs, and access national services wherever they are available.

International cooperation is essential to make migration a strong force for development. Bilateral cooperation can strengthen the match of migrants’ skills with the needs of destination societies. Multilateral efforts are needed to share the costs of refugee-hosting and to address distressed migration. Voices that are underrepresented in the migration debate must be heard: this includes developing countries, the private sector and other stakeholders, and migrants and refugees themselves.

25, April 2023

US says Sudan warring parties agree to 72-hour ceasefire after hundreds killed ⁰

Sudan’s battling generals have agreed to a three-day ceasefire, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Monday, after 10 days of urban combat killed hundreds, wounded thousands, and sparked a mass exodus of foreigners.

Previous bids to pause the conflict failed to take hold but Blinken announced: “Following intense negotiation over the past 48 hours, the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) have agreed to implement a nationwide ceasefire starting at midnight on April 24, to last for 72 hours.”

Blinken’s statement came two hours before the truce was to take effect.

It came after the UN chief warned Sudan is on “the edge of the abyss” following fighting between the rivals who have waged unprecedented battles in the capital, Khartoum, as well as elsewhere in the country.

The fighting pits forces loyal to army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan against those of his former deputy Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, who commands the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF).

The RSF emerged from the Janjaweed militia that then-president Omar al-Bashir unleashed in Darfur, leading to war crimes charges against Bashir and others.

The Forces of Freedom and Change, the main civilian bloc which the two generals ousted from power in a 2021 coup, said the truce would allow for “dialogue on the modalities of a permanent ceasefire.”

At least 427 people have been killed and more than 3,700 wounded, according to UN agencies.

Among the latest to die was the assistant administrative attache at Cairo’s embassy in Khartoum, Egypt’s foreign ministry said. The official was killed while heading from home to the embassy to follow up on evacuation procedures, it said.

More than 4,000 people have fled the country in foreign-organised evacuations that began on Saturday.

The United States and multiple European, Middle Eastern, African and Asian nations launched emergency missions to bring to safety their embassy staff and Sudan-based citizens by road, air and sea.

But millions of Sudanese are unable to flee.

They are trying to survive acute shortages of water, food, medicines and fuel as well as power and internet blackouts.

UN agencies reported some Sudanese civilians were able to escape “areas affected by fighting, including to Chad, Egypt and South Sudan”.

“Morgues are full. Corpses litter the streets” said Attiya Abdallah, head of the doctors’ union, which on Monday reported scores more casualties after sites in south Khartoum were “heavily shelled”.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres warned that the violence in Sudan — already one of the world’s poorest countries, with a history of military coups — “could engulf the whole region and beyond”.

“We must all do everything within our power to pull Sudan back from the edge of the abyss,” Guterres said.

He had also, again, called for a ceasefire.

Britain requested an emergency UN Security Council meeting on Sudan, which was expected to take place on Tuesday, according to a diplomat.

A UN convoy carrying 700 people completed an arduous 850 kilometre (530 mile) road trip to Port Sudan on the Red Sea coast from the capital, where they left behind gunfire and explosions.

The United Nations head of mission Volker Perthes said the convoy arrived safely.

“Thirty-five hours in a not so comfortable convoy are certainly better than three hours’ bombing and sitting under the shells,” he said.

A UN statement separately said he and other key staff will “remain in Sudan and will continue to work towards a resolution to the current crisis”.

‘Unspeakable destruction’

With Khartoum airport disabled after battles that left charred aircraft on the tarmac, many foreigners were airlifted out from smaller airstrips, to countries including Djibouti and Jordan.

US special forces swooped in with Chinook helicopters Sunday to rescue diplomats and their dependents, while Britain launched a similar rescue mission.

European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said more than 1,000 EU citizens had been taken out during a “long and intense weekend” involving airlift missions by France, Germany and others.

China said Monday it had “safely evacuated” a first group of citizens and would “try every means to protect the lives, properties and safety of 1,500 plus Chinese compatriots in Sudan”.

Source: AFP

24, April 2023

Yaoundé: Biya celebrates 29 years of ‘blissful’ marriage! ⁰

Cameroon’s President, Paul Biya, has just celebrated 29 years of ‘blissful’ marriage to his wife, Chantal Biya, who is noted for her flaming red hair.

The pictures of the event, which have been trending online, were designed to demonstrate how powerful the couple is but feedback from many observers leaves much to be desired.

Supporters of the dictator have been trying to demonstrate that the 90-year-old was still strong and energetic, a reason for him to run again in 2025 in the presidential election.

But pictures do not always lie. Paul Biya, the man who was much loved by Cameroonians in 1982, is today a shadow of his former self. He is more of a bag of bones than the athletic person he was in the 80s. His physical attraction is today something of the past as violent molds threaten to take over his entire face.

In recent times, the ailing, aged and disoriented president has been a massive liability and embarrassment to his country and there are doubts even within his ruling and corrupt party, the Cameroon Peoples Democratic Movement (CPDM) about his ability to represent the party.

Mr. Biya, who has never really won any presidential election since 1992, has vowed to die in power with the support of the military and his fellow corrupt party members are doing their best to keep him in power so that they can continue to loot the system.

It is obvious that Mr. Biya is not in control of things in Yaoundé. His closest collaborators, including his wife, have created a ring of fire around him and they are running the show however they want and anybody suspected of not following their marching orders is immediately arrested on trumped up charges and sent to the Yaoundé Maximum Security Prison.

Biya really has a reason to celebrate that marriage of his which has been tested on many occasions and the results of the scrutiny point to something which keeps the 90-year-old president worried and awake at night.

Some of his own ministers have been looking at Chantal with the eyes of love but the fear of spending their whole lives in Kondengui has served as a restraint on those ministers with roving eyes.

The first lady herself has been the subject of some unpleasant rumor and it is alleged that a former minister of public health, Urbain Olengena Awono, is languishing in jail today even when he has been absolved of most of the charges against him, because the first lady needed him in more ways than one, some of which were not work-related.

Though not loved by Cameroonians, the 90-year-old president is incontestably part and parcel of Cameroon’s political story and during the wedding anniversary, Biya and his flamboyant wife were cheered by family members who are all members of the ruling CPDM crime syndicate which has taken control of the country’s treasury.

As far as democracy is concerned, the problem is that Biya and his cohort of kleptocrats and kakistocrats are determined to hang on to power even after the next presidential election.

He has been in office for 40 years, but his decision to continue holding on to power is indeed unwise. Ever since he was forced to reintroduce democracy in the country in 1990, elections have been about vote rigging, calls for boycott and abstention.

For a man who has always insisted that he was the president of all Cameroonians – even as those same Cameroonians particularly those from the English-speaking part of the country are constantly being slaughtered by his Francophone dominated security forces – Biya has, over the last two years, not ventured beyond his stronghold of Yaoundé.

There is a very obvious reason for that: a significant proportion of Cameroonians see him as a man without legitimacy. Many hold that a Biya-free Cameroon will be an El-dorado and that after 40 years of political and economic chaos, it is time for him to yield the floor.

Biya’s appearances in Etoudi in 2023 are politically intriguing and are all aimed at seeking to send a message to Cameroonians. His recent wedding anniversary ceremony was also meant to show strength but that too only proved that he clearly belongs to the past and if he harbors any thoughts of running again, he should shelve those plan as most Cameroonians are looking forward to a change in political personalities and approaches.

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai

24, April 2023

US: President Biden to announce re-election bid ⁰

After months of teasing, President Joe Biden is expected finally to announce his bid for a second term Tuesday, defying lukewarm polls and, at 80, boldly pushing what were once considered age boundaries for one of the planet’s most stressful jobs.

Neither the White House, the Democratic Party nor the president himself have confirmed he will announce but multiple US media reports, citing unnamed sources, say the move will come early Tuesday in a video address.

This would fall exactly four years after Biden announced his candidacy for the 2020 election in which he defeated Donald Trump. That too was made in the low-key format of a video, as was Barack Obama’s 2012 re-election campaign announcement.

By contrast, Trump formally launched his bid for a second term in 2019 at one of his signature rallies.

The 76-year-old Republican has also already announced his bid for a 2024 comeback and is the strong frontrunner to be his party’s nominee, despite having been criminally indicted and remaining under multiple other investigations on serious allegations.

Biden’s Tuesday schedule currently features an address on the economy at a Washington hotel conference room.

While not a campaign event, the scheduled theme — “how his investing in America agenda is bringing manufacturing back, rebuilding the middle class, and creating good-paying union jobs” — is clearly set to be at the heart of the Democrat’s 2024 message.

In the evening, Biden and First Lady Jill Biden will visit Washington’s Korean War Memorial along with South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol and his wife Kim Keon Hee, as they kick off a state visit — and give Biden an opportunity to highlight his foreign policy record.

Low enthusiasm

History shows that as the incumbent, Biden would have an immediate advantage.

Trump, dragged down by his management of the Covid-19 pandemic and fears among Democrats that he was a threat to democracy, was the first sitting president in three decades to lose re-election.

Biden is also presiding over a powerful post-pandemic economic revival — usually a key factor in deciding presidential elections.

However, Biden faces unique headwinds. Chief among these is worry over his age.

He’d be 82 when he began his second term and 86 when he left office. At 80, he is already the oldest person ever in the Oval Office.

An official medical report this year found Biden to be physically in good condition.

But the president’s noticeably slow walk — notwithstanding his habit of throwing in a few steps at a jog — and his frequent moments of becoming tongue tied during public speaking have spooked even supporters.

An NBC News poll released over the weekend found that 70 percent of Americans, including 51 percent of Democrats, believe he should not run for a second term. Forty eight percent cited concerns over his age as the main reason and another 21 percent cited that as a minor reason.

Among those raising strong doubts over Biden’s fitness to serve another grueling four years after this term ends was The New York Times editorial board last week.

“The president also needs to talk about his health openly and without embarrassment, and to end the pretense that it doesn’t matter,” it said.

Asked about the issue, Biden always replies “watch me” — explaining that voters should look not at his age but his record of delivering several historic investment bills, leading a coalition to support Ukraine against Russian invasion, and other achievements during a drama-filled first term.

Source: AFP

24, April 2023

Chad – Cameroon Oil Pipeline Victim Of Complex Legal / Political Dispute ⁰

Chad’s nationalization of the 1000-km oil pipeline between Chad and Cameroon has led to a full-blown legal and diplomatic crisis between the two neighboring African countries, coming on the heels of ExxonMobil’s decision to divest from its hydrocarbon operations in December of last year.

In the latest escalation of the dispute over the sale of ExxonMobil’s assets in these countries to London listed Savannah Energy, Chad has recalled its ambassador to Cameroon. In an official statement, Chad said its move was prompted by “entrenched disagreements” with its neighbor to the southwest of the continent.

According to Reuters, Exxon closed the sale of its operations in Chad and Cameroon to Africa-focused oil and gas producer Savannah in a $407 million deal in December. But the Chadian government has challenged the agreement saying the final terms of the deal were different from what had been presented to it.

Exxon’s assets included a 40 percent stake in Chad’s Doba oil project, which comprises seven producing oilfields with a combined output of 28,000 barrels per day (bpd).

It also included Exxon’s interest in the Chad-Cameroon pipeline from the landlocked nation to the Atlantic Gulf of Guinea coast through which its crude is exported.

Chad said in the statement on Thursday that it had reached out to Cameroon to raise concerns about “unfriendly actions” by some Cameroon officials that were contrary to the interests of Chad in the board of the pipeline company but did not get any response.

“Chad finds itself once again in the obligation to defend its interests and its respectability and denounces the repeated actions of Cameroon and its representatives which undermine, relations between the two countries,” the statement said.

“Consequently, Chad has decided recall its ambassador to Cameroon for consultation,” it added.

Source: Reuters

24, April 2023

Kenya: President Ruto vows action after 51 bodies linked to cult found ⁰

Kenyan President William Ruto on Monday vowed to crack down on “unacceptable” religious movements after police discovered the bodies of 51 people suspected of belonging to a Christian cult that practised starvation.

A major search is underway in a forest near the coastal town of Malindi where dozens of corpses were exhumed over the weekend, with authorities fearing more grisly discoveries could be made.

A full-scale investigation has been launched into the Good News International Church and its leader, named in court documents as Paul Mackenzie Nthenge, who preached that death by starvation delivered followers to God.

It is believed some of his devotees could still be hiding in the bush around Shakahola where the first bodies were discovered in shallow graves last week.

A 325-hectare (800-acre) area of woodland has been declared a crime scene as authorities seek to understand the true scale of what is being dubbed the “Shakahola Forest Massacre.”

Ruto, speaking in speaking in Kiambu county neighbouring Nairobi, said there was “no difference” between rogue pastors like Nthenge — who has been arrested and is awaiting trial — and terrorists.

State of survival: without water or food

“Terrorists use religion to advance their heinous acts. People like Mr Mackenzie are using religion to do exactly the same thing.”

“I have instructed the agencies responsible to take up the matter and to get to the root cause and to the bottom of the activities of… people who want to use religion to advance weird, unacceptable ideology.”

Police chief Japhet Koome was expected on Monday to visit the site, where teams clad in overalls have been scouring for more burial pits and possible cult survivors.

Fears for followers

There are fears some members could be hiding from authorities in the surrounding bushland and at risk of death if not quickly found.

A number of people have already been rescued and taken to hospital in Malindi, on Kenya’s Indian Ocean coast.

Hussein Khalid, a member of the rights group Haki Africa that tipped off the police to the actions of the church, said one of those rescued had refused to eat despite being in clear physical distress.

“The moment she was brought here, she absolutely refused to be administered with first aid and she closed her mouth firmly, basically refusing to be assisted, wanting to continue with her fasting until she dies,” he told AFP.

The Kenya Red Cross said 112 people had been reported missing to its support staff at Malindi.

Nthenge turned himself in to police and was charged last month, according to local media, after two children starved to death in the custody of their parents.

He has since been released on bail of 100,000 Kenyan shillings ($700). The case is due to be heard again on May 2.

The case has grabbed the national attention, prompting the government to flag the need for tighter control of fringe denominations in a country with a history of self-declared pastors and movements that become immersed in crime.

Interior Minister Kithure Kindiki, who has announced he would visit the site on Tuesday, described the case as “the clearest abuse of the constitutionally enshrined human right to freedom of worship.”

But attempts to regulate religion in the majority-Christian country have been fiercely opposed in the past as attempts to undermine constitutional guarantees for a division between church and state.

Source: AFP