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9, November 2022

Haunted by past glory and failure, Indomitable Lions aim for the ‘impossible’ ⁰

Not many football pundits and fans picked Cameroon to qualify for the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022. The Indomitable Lions were pitted against perhaps Africa’s best team at the time – Algeria. However, as the Cameroonian saying goes, ‘L’impossible n’est pas Camerounais!’ (The impossible is not Cameroonian!)

A last-gasp goal deep in stoppage time by Cameroon’s Lyon striker, Karl Toko Ekambi shattered the North Africans’ hope leaving Algeria coach Djamel Belmadi inconsolable; Cameroon erupted for joy as they booked a flight to Qatar 2022. The match ended 1-2 in favour of Cameroon and 2-2 on aggregate, but the Lions qualified thanks to two away goals despite losing the first leg at home by a lone goal.

It is a new era for Cameroonian football, with former players taking administrative and coaching positions. Legend Samuel Eto’o recently became president of the football federation in December last year. At the same time, another national icon and former defensive stalwart, Rigobert Song, will lead the team as coach to the eighth World Cup appearance. Song replaced Toni Conceiçao in March, just before the World Cup playoff. Conceiçao had led the team to third place at AFCON earlier this year.

Cameroon will kick off their Qatar 2022 campaign when they take on Switzerland in their Group G opener at the Al Janoub Stadium on November 24. The 1990 quarter-finalists will also play Serbia at Al Janoub on November 28 and five-time champions Brazil at the Lusail Stadium on December 2.

The Indomitable Lions have failed to replicate the historic highs of the Roger Milla-led 1990 team that reached the quarter-finals amid impressive victories over Argentina and Colombia. They have also been to the 1982, 1994, 1998, 2002, 2010 and 2014 editions but have scaled past the group stages. Cameroon have won only one game at the World Cup since 1990, a 1-0 win against Saudi Arabia in 2002.

After missing out on Russia 2018, the pressure on the likes of Vincent Aboubakar, Toko Ekambi, Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting, André Onana and André-Frank Zambo Anguissa, to lead the team to glory is palpable, especially from Eto’o.

“During last week’s General Assembly, we came together to discuss the road ahead for Cameroonian football. We must seize every opportunity, nationally and internationally. We’ve made it to the World Cup, not to play extras but to dominate all 7 matches and bring home the trophy,” Eto’o posted on his Twitter handle back in August.

However, recent results mean Song has a lot on his plate if the team’s goal is to enter the world cup in the best form. They lost back-to-back friendlies in September. A shock 2-0 defeat to minnows Uzbekistan was followed by another 1-0 loss to South Korea.

The 46-year-old Song, Cameroon’s most-capped player, coached the under-23 team before his promotion. He had led the home-based team to a forgettable African Nations Championship in 2018. The latest defeats have not done much to quell several opinions about Song’s ability, but the former Liverpool man seems sure the team will not repeat past mistakes.

“The World Cups follow each other but are not the same. The past is the past,” Song told FIFA.

“Today, there is a new dynamic; there are new projects and leaders. I can tell you that we will not be subject to the same issues we faced in Brazil.”

With latest additions like former France under-21 international Bryan Mbeumo, who has switched allegiance to his father’s home country; the brilliant goalscoring form of Bayern Munich’s Choupo-Moting, and the constant presence of Aboubakar and Toko Ekambi, perhaps the famous phrase ‘L’impossible n’est pas Camerounais!’ may be an anchor for the Indomitable Lions after all.

Cameroon play Jamaica today in a friendly in Yaounde before a final warm-up against Panama on November 18.

Culled from The Peninsular

9, November 2022

Indomitable Lions: All you need to know ahead of Qatar 2022 team announcement ⁰

Indomitable Lions have been drawn in group G at the World Cup and will face Brazil, Serbia and Switzerland. They have played at the tournament more than any other African side, competing seven times since their debut in 1982.

The Qatar World Cup will be Cameroon’s eighth such competition and marks a return to the global stage after missing out on a place in Russia four years ago.

This time around, the Indomitable Lions booked their World Cup place in dramatic fashion. They came top of their initial CAF group, finishing two points ahead of Ivory Coast after winning five of their six matches.

The Lions then faced a strong Algeria side in their CAF play-off and lost the first leg 1-0 at home. Winning 1-0 in Algeria and with the match in extra-time, they conceded a 118th-minute equaliser and looked to be destined to miss out again. Karl Toko Ekambi then became the nation’s hero, scoring the all-important winner in the 124th minute of the match.

The Indomitable Lions most recent international squad contained several names that followers of European football will be familiar with. Inter Milan’s Andre Onana is their No 1 goalkeeper, Napoli’s Andre-Frank Anguissa is a standout option in midfield and captain Vincent Aboubakar has played top-flight football in Portugal, Turkey and France.

Brentford’s France-born Bryan Mbeumo has recently switched his nationality too, picking up his first Cameroon cap in September.

Lions most recent international squad

Goalkeepers: Simon Ngapandouetnbu (Marseille), Devis Epassy (Abha), Andre Onana (Inter Milan).

Defenders: Darlin Yongwa (Lorient), Nicolas Nkoulou (Aris), Christopher Wooh (Rennes), Oumar Gonzalez (Ajaccio), Nouhou Tolo (Seattle Sounders), Olivier Mbaizo (Philadelphia Union), Collins Fai (Al-Tai), Jean-Charles Castelletto (Nantes), Enzo Ebosse (Udinese).

Midfielders: Olivier Ntcham (Swansea City), Georges Mandjeck (Nea Salamis), Pierre Kunde (Olympiacos), Martin Hongla (Hellas Verona), Samuel Gouet (Mechelen), Gael Ondoua (Hannover 96), Jean Onana (Lens).

Forwards: Moumi Ngamaleu (Dynamo Moscow), Georges-Kevin Nkoudou (Besiktas), Leandre Tawamba (Al-Taawoun), Vincent Aboubakar (Al-Nassr), Karl Toko Ekambi (Lyon), Jean-Pierre Nsame (Young Boys), Bryan Mbeumo (Brentford).

Cameroon’s recent call-ups

Goalkeepers: Simon Omossola (Vita Club).

Culled from The Athletic.com

9, November 2022

Southern Cameroons resistance is still battling to end union with French Cameroun ⁰

The head of the Ambazonia Intelligence Service in Ground Zero held a telephone conversation with the Vice President of the Ambazonia Interim Government Dabney Yerima late on Tuesday. The two discussed the situation in Southern Cameroons, including Bemenda and the presence of Bayelsa armed militants from Nigeria in Pamol Lobe and Mamfe in Manyu Division.

Following the meeting, the exiled Southern Cameroons leader told the Southern Cameroons Broadcasting Corporation that they discussed the reasons leading up to the recent 40 years celebration of the French Cameroun dictator in Ambazonia territory and the humanitarian situation in Menchum, Bui and Ndian.

Yerima pointed out that he told the Ambazonia Intel Chief that Southern Cameroonians will never accept the continuation of the 1961 status quo. He warned that the Ambazonia resistance groups might agree to take action against all French Cameroun military installations in Southern Cameroons. But he did not say when and where it could start.

Sending a strong message to Yaoundé, Yerima said he would sit with all Southern Cameroons factions to discuss counter measures and the fate of all Southern Cameroons detainees who are still being held by the Biya French Cameroun regime in harsh conditions, including solitary confinement and detention with neither charge nor trial.

When asked if Ambazonian resistance groups failed when they allowed the CPDM Biya celebration to go on in Southern Cameroons without ghost towns operations, Dabney Yerima answered: “Our struggle is not only to end the fake union with La Republique du Cameroun, but also to let our people see the Southern Cameroonians who are helping the Francophone regime in its genocidal campaign in our homeland. When we get to Buea, they will pay dearly for their actions.”

By Chi Prudence Asong

8, November 2022

World Bank Group Presents New Fund for Lowering Emissions ⁰

Today the World Bank announced a new multi-partner fund that will pool funding from the global community — including donor countries, the private sector and foundations — for scalable pathways to greenhouse gas emission reduction. The Scaling Climate Action by Lowering Emissions (SCALE) partnership will provide grants for verifiable emissions reductions and expand the funding sources for global public goods.

“Climate finance needs major new mechanisms that pool funding from the global community to accomplish actual reductions in greenhouse gas emissions across the developing world. SCALE offers a key non-fragmented avenue for the global community to take action on climate change,” said David Malpass, President of the World Bank Group. “The verifiable emission reductions created by SCALE and similar mechanisms will also be an important step toward building effective carbon credit markets.”

SCALE will deploy Results-Based Climate Finance where countries receive grant payments for achieving pre-agreed, verifiable results, drawing on twenty years of World Bank Group experience in this area.

SCALE will support countries to build a track record of generating emission reductions from impactful programs and policies that they can apply toward their national emission reduction targets. SCALE will also yield excess credits that can be offered in carbon markets with the potential to unlock additional private sector funding.

SCALE will pool public and private resources to (i) channel additional funding to middle and low-income countries’ emission reduction programs; (ii) help bridge the gap between the supply of and demand for high-quality emission reduction credits by supporting large-scale climate investments; and (iii) help countries develop high integrity credits and enhance their access to international carbon markets.

Social inclusion is embedded in the design of all SCALE programs. An associated fund within the SCALE umbrella – Enabling Access to Benefits while Lowering Emissions (EnABLE) – enhances the inclusion of marginalized communities and indigenous peoples in programs under the partnership through specially designed benefit sharing arrangements.

8, November 2022

Germany to reckon with its abusive colonial past in Cameroon ⁰

A top German official gave a strong speech on the need for Germany to reckon with its abusive colonial past in Cameroon, a German colony between 1884 and 1919, and other former German colonies.

Katja Keul, minister of state at the German Federal Foreign Office, stated that “In Germany, we either played down or ignored the colonial period for far too long. As a society, as a government, and also as the Federal Foreign Office. … Let me put this quite bluntly: European colonialism was an unjust system.”

During her visit to Cameroon from October 30, 2022 to November 2, Keul paid tribute to Rudolf Douala Manga Bell, a Douala king and resistance leader against Germany’s colony in Cameroon. In 1914, the German colonial administration sentenced the king to death in a trial that violated due process, even at the time.

Keul said that “Colonialism led to unimaginable suffering. It destroyed the lives of many people in Africa. King Rudolf Manga Bell was one of them.”

Keul also discussed with Cameroon’s Prime Minister Joseph Dion Ngute the prospects of returning artifacts that were removed from Cameroon during the colonial era.

She committed the German government “to face up to this chapter of our history and to put an end to the shortcomings in coming to grips with it.”

Keul’s speech comes on the heels of Germany’s refusal in September to renegotiate a reparation deal related to the atrocities, now recognized by Germany as genocide, committed against the Herero and Nama peoples during Germany’s colonization of Namibia between 1885 and 1919. The “reconciliation agreement” was deemed a failure by, among others, colonial historians and representatives of the Herero and Nama, in part because the latter were not recognized as official partners during negotiations between the German and Namibian governments.

Studies have shown that Germany is grappling with structural racism within its institutions, such as the police, healthcare provision, and public employment services.

If the German government is serious about reckoning with its colonial past, it should reconsider its approach on reparations and examine how its colonial past affects racism in Germany today. The EU requires Germany to adopt a National Action Plan on Racism; adopting one addressing racism rooted in colonialism would be an important step.

Culled from Human Rights Watch

8, November 2022

French Cameroun: Traders Say Equatorial Guinea Border Closure Ahead of Elections Hurts Business ⁰

Traders in the Cameroon town of Kiossi, on the border with Equatorial Guinea, say business is suffering after the land border was closed last week ahead of November 20 elections. Equatorial Guinea says it closed the border to prevent what it calls “infiltration of mercenaries who want to destabilize the elections.” Political analysts say President Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo, who came to power in a 1979 coup and is Africa’s longest still-serving leader, is sure to win.

Several hundred citizens from Cameroon and Equatorial Guinea, most of them merchants, say they have not been able to cross the border from Kiossi, a Cameroonian border town, to Equatorial Guinea since November 3.

Dozens of heavily armed Equatorial Guinea government troops can be seen on the central African state’s side of the border.

Building material importer Dominique Essono says the troops are preventing him and many other Equatorial Guinea citizens from returning to their country to vote on November 20.

Essono said scores of businesspersons are stranded and cannot move to Cameroon from Ebebiyin, a town in Equatorial Guinea. Cameroon imports vegetable oil, wine, canned food and body lotions from Equatorial Guinea and exports building material, vegetables, tomatoes, rice and potato to Equatorial Guinea.

On October 25, Equatorial Guinea’s Vice President Teodoro Nguema Obiang Mangue said the border was sealed to prevent from the “infiltration” of groups that may want to destabilize Equatorial Guinea’s elections.

Obiang, 80, is Africa’s longest serving leader. The former military officer serving as the 2nd president of Equatorial Guinea took power in an August 1979 coup.

He will be facing two candidates in the November 20 elections.

Esono Ondo is running for the first time while Monsuy Asumu is running for the third time. Obiang told the Pan African TV Channel Afrique Media on Monday that he will continue to develop his country and reduce poverty in rural communities if reelected.

Obiang says it is by no error that continuity is the slogan of his election campaign. He says his exceptional program is to open Equatorial Guinea businesses to the rest of the world so that by 2035, the central African state can become an economically independent emerging economy.

Owona Wolfgang, a political analyst at the University of Yaounde’s political science research center in Cameroon, says Obiang is poised for another victory, as in the past six elections when he never got less than 90% of the vote.

Wolfgang says it will not be surprising if after the elections, the aging Obiang hands over leadership of Equatorial Guinea to his son, Teodoro Nguema Obiang Mangue. He says Obiang’s son is Equatorial Guinea’s vice president and a very influential member of the Democratic Party of Equatorial Guinea, the country’s ruling party.

The opposition says Obiang’s rule is marked by persecution and torture of political opponents, corruption and sham elections, charges Obiang’s party denies.

The ruling party holds 99 of the 100 seats in the outgoing National Assembly and all 55 seats in the Senate.

Equatorial Guinea’s presidential poll was initially scheduled for April 2023. President Obiang brought it forward to November 20 to coincide with legislative, senate, and local elections.

Equatorial Guinea has an annual oil revenue of more than $3 billion, but most of its 1.5 million people live in poverty according to the United Nations.

Source: VOA

8, November 2022

Football: Bayern Munich to decide on Choupo-Moting’s future ⁰

Bayern Munich sporting director Hasan Salihamidzic has expressed the club’s desire to keep Cameroon striker Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting.

Choupo-Moting’s contract expires at the end of the season and while the player has confirmed his interest in extending his stay in Bavaria, the club also seems to be happy with him penning a new deal.

“We’d love to keep him. I have a good relationship with his adviser. We’ll meet and see if we can please him. The way he’s playing, he’s a big win for us. He’s a great guy, and that’s why we got him. I’m happy that he’s here and I’m happy if he stays here.”

Choupo-Moting joined Bayern from Paris Saint-Germain in the summer of 2020 and has scored 28 goals in 72 games.

The 33-year-old Cameroon international is enjoying a rich vein of form, having scored in seven straight games, taking his tally for the season to 10 already better than the last two campaigns when he managed nine apiece.

Choupo-Moting scored twice in Bayern’s 3-2 victory over Hertha Berlin at the weekend in what was his fifth goal in the Bundesliga, taking him to third on the Bayern top scorer’s list in the league, behind teenage sensation Jamal Musiala who has eight and Sadio Mane who has bagged six.

The striker expressed his wish to stay longer at Bayern after his brace at the weekend. “I’m very, very happy at Bayern and can of course imagine staying here longer. I’m just concentrating on Bayern Munich and I am here for now.

Bayern host Werder Bremen in the Bundesliga on Tuesday with the striker keen to extend his scoring run as he also looks forward to making the final Cameroon squad for the 2022 World Cup.

Source: Goal.com

8, November 2022

Tension in Yaoundé as Indomitable Lions risk expulsion from Qatar 2022 World Cup ⁰

Cameroon may be barred from participating in the forthcoming 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar. The country is involved in a legal battle with kit company Le Coq Sportif after terminating their contract.

A Paris commercial court has ordered the company to continue to produce kits for the Indomitable Lions, a ruling backed by FIFA. There are concerns in Cameroon over a legal battle that could see the Indomitable Lions miss the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar.

Fecafoot – the Cameroon Football Federation – are reportedly having a showdown with kit and equipment supplier Le Coq Sportif. The Paris commercial court intervened in the dispute and ordered the squad to wear Le Coq Sportif shirts at the World Cup.

Complete Sports confirmed that FIFA supported the ruling and urged Le Coq Sportif to continue supplying their equipment to the country. FIFA was possibly angered by Fecafoot earlier decision to terminate the French kit company’s contract and partnering instead with One All Sport, an American company.

Cameroon’s lawyer, Barrister Ntimbane Bono, in a chat with Actu Cameroon, stated that the move could get the country expelled from the forthcoming World Cup. “A refusal to execute the decision by Fecafoot could lead to the disqualification of Cameroon from this World Cup, which one should not forget it’s a FIFA activity.”

Cameroon are in Group G with Serbia, Switzerland and Brazil. The Indomitable Lions are scheduled to face Switzerland in their first game of the tournament on November 24.

Source: Complete Sports

6, November 2022

Biya: Nowhere to be found in his own celebration ⁰

Cameroon’s ruling party supporters are celebrating their hero’s forty years in power although there is nothing positive to show for Mr. Biya’s long stay in power.

The celebrations are more explosive in the Northwest regional capital, Bamenda, where the ruling party, CPDM, was created.

But the irony in all the celebrations is that the man being feted, Paul Biya, is nowhere to be found.

Another irony of sorts is the fact that the celebration of incompetence has been taken to a different country, the Federal Republic of Ambazonia, which is so opposed to Mr. Biya’s dictatorial, incompetent and corrupt regime.

Mr. Biya, who came to power on a wave of popularity, has roundly disappointed Cameroonians with his dismal and appalling failure.

In 1982 when he took over, there was massive goodwill for Mr. Biya whom many thought was the right man to steer the country forward and in a different political direction, away from the brutality which characterized the first president’s rule.

But much to the dismay of those who had betted on Biya, he steered the country to even greater corruption, ferocious brutality and incompetence.

His regime has been characterized by arrogance and instead of listening to the people in order to understand the issues, he has always preferred the use of force, transforming the military into his personal toy which he unleashes on his political opponents even when uncalled for.

The 89-year-old Biya could not participate in his own celebrations because his demons have been at work since last week.

His enlarged prostate and heart seem to have connived to ensure that he does not go out to celebrate his own failure.

His right leg, which has made sure that he does not enjoy a good movement, went on a rebellion a few days ago and the desperate Biya has been crying like a baby.

Sources close to the presidential couple have informed the Cameroon Concord News that walking has become a chore to a man who loves walking around.

He now spends most of his time in his bedroom where he is reflecting on his fate after he transitions to the world beyond.

Mr. Biya will be remembered as a man who had a golden opportunity to change the unfortunate fate of his people but decided to squander the opportunity by adopting the wrong governance approaches.

By Rita Akana

6, November 2022

Biya’s 40th Anniversary: Meeting in Bamenda to celebrate incompetence and corruption ⁰

CPDM stalwarts were in Bamenda today to celebrate Biya’s 40 years of incompetence, corruption and arrogance.

Led by the CPDM Secretary-general, Jean Kuete, speakers at the event highlighted what they thought were Mr. Biya’s achievements – indeed his appalling failure – over the last four decades.

But Cameroonians cannot be fooled. The results are there for all to see. The country has been caught up in a downward spiral with corruption becoming the regime’s hallmark.

Since coming to power in 1982, Mr. Biya has legalized corruption. He and his followers hold that nothing can be achieved without corruption. They use money to buy loyalty, corrupt those who criticize the government and imprison those who refuse their bribes.

Cameroon’s jails are full of Mr. Biya’s former collaborators who have embezzled state funds and he and his wife have been involved in many financial scandals which have helped to erode the people’s confidence in the moribund government.

Regarding the economy, Mr. Biya’s government has disappointed millions of Cameroonians. Many had seen him as a savior when he came to power in 1982, but his incompetence has taken the country down the wrong path.

The country’s economy has been in a free fall in decades, spreading pain and death among desperate and hungry Cameroonians.

Millions of Cameroonian youth are without jobs and even those employed are simply eking a living. The country’s civil service is bloated with civil servants finding it hard to make ends meet.

This financial challenge has transformed many civil service workers into con artists whose main objective of joining the civil service is to line their pockets.

The regime’s failure to create jobs for millions of young Cameroonians has transformed the country into a net exporter of human capital as young Cameroonians look outwards for greener pastures.

Regarding infrastructure development, Cameroon lags behind most African countries in this regard. For forty years, instead of investing in infrastructure which could drive development and create jobs, Mr. Biya and his collaborators have transformed the country’s treasury into their personal ATM.

The country is bereft of roads, hospitals and educational facilities. Mr. Biya has created many primary and secondary schools, but these institutions only exist on paper as there is no modern infrastructure.

For tertiary institutions, there are many of them in Cameroon today, but the quality of training leaves much to be desired.

The country’s state universities have been transformed into brothels where lecturers with very high libido satisfy their sex needs. Young girls are being dehumanized and robbed of their self-esteem by unscrupulous lecturers just because there are no checks in government-run universities.

Some lecturers even demand bribes from their students, especially those seeking to defend their thesis. This unfortunate situation in the country’s state universities truly reflects what is happening in a nation where young girls are asked to have sex with company heads before they can be given jobs.

Today, even young men are required to sleep with unscrupulous employers for them to get hired. Mr. Biya and his bunch of godless, hell-bound and depraved collaborators have made of Cameroon a fertile ground for homosexuality.

Morals have simply taken French leave of the country and there are no signs that they will return even after Biya and his gangsters leave power.

Today’s meeting in Bamenda, the place where the demon-possessed CPDM was created, is indeed a celebration of evil in human form.

Incompetence, corruption and demonic powers have been firmly rooted in the country under Biya and there is no doubt that the CPDM is very pleased with its leader’s abysmal and appalling failure.

By Rita Akana and Fon Lawrence in Bamenda