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FIFA clears Cameroon to pick Kévin Nkoudou, Olivier Ntcham ahead of World Cup

18, May 2022

FIFA clears Cameroon to pick Kévin Nkoudou, Olivier Ntcham ahead of World Cup 0

Cameroon’s recruitment drive ahead of the World Cup continued on Monday with FIFA approving the change in international eligibility of former France Under-21 winger Georges-Kévin Nkoudou.

Nkoudou, who was with Marseille and Tottenham before joining current club Beşiktaş, never played for the French senior national team and could make the change to Cameroon under FIFA rules because of his family ties.

The application to FIFA was made by the Cameroonian Football Association, which is led by national team great Samuel Eto’o.

The 27-year-old Nkoudou was named last week in coach Rigobert Song’s preliminary squad for 2023 African Cup of Nations qualifying games in June. The group also included former Celtic midfielder Olivier Ntcham.

FIFA confirmed Ntcham’s eligibility change from France only last week though he had been called up in March for World Cup qualifying playoffs against Algeria.

The Swansea player did not take part in the playoffs as Cameroon advanced on the away-goals rule by scoring in stoppage time at the end of extra time in the second leg.

Cameroon was drawn in a World Cup group with Brazil, Serbia and Switzerland. The tournament in Qatar starts on Nov. 21.

Source:  AP

CPDM Crime Syndicate and the Mbalam iron project: The matter promises to be hot

18, May 2022

CPDM Crime Syndicate and the Mbalam iron project: The matter promises to be hot 0

Negotiations between Cameroon and Sundance Resources (and its local subsidiary Cam Iron SA), which began in the second half of 2021, for an amicable settlement of the dispute over the Mbalam iron ore mining project, have failed.

The Australian mining company brought the case to the International Court of Arbitration of the International Chamber of Commerce in Paris in June 2021 to force Cameroon to grant it an operating license on the project, after the mining convention of November 29, 2012, and the transition agreement of June 30, 2015. The company said Cameroon was about to grant the license to another partner.

Sundance wants Cameroon to at least repay the amount it invested in the research phase. The money is estimated at CFA94 billion (subject to audit), according to the Minister of Mines, Industry and Technological Development (Minmidt), whose services led the negotiations with the Australian mining company.

Disapproval

Gabriel Dodo Ndocké believes that paying this “debt” will put a definitive end to the battle between the Cameroonian government and Sundance Resources but President Paul Biya (pictured) seems to disapprove. In a letter dated April 18, the President said he prefers an arbitration approach and has already contacted Thierry Lauriol, a lawyer at the Paris bar and partner in the firm Jeantet, to defend Cameroon before the court. Thierry Lauriol was Congo’s lawyer before the court of arbitration of London when the country was battling against the same company for the Congolese part of the same project.

The lawyer should have already filed the response of the State of Cameroon to the request for arbitration before the deadline of April 30, 2022. Under this strategy, the Minister of Finance, Louis Paul Motazé, was instructed to urgently make $55,000 (about 34.57 million CFA francs) available to the collector at the Embassy of Cameroon in Paris. The money covered the urgent procedure that ended April 1, 2022, by a decision not favorable to Cameroon. The International Court of Arbitration in Paris issued a provisional decision prohibiting Cameroon “from issuing an exploitation permit for the Mbalam iron ore deposit or from issuing any instrument or document having a similar effect, to Sonamines or any other entity,” Sundance reported.

Delay

In August 2021, Sundance Resources announced it was relying on arbitration proceedings against Cameroon and Congo to pay debts owed to its shareholders estimated at $132 million (about CFA70.86 billion), as of the end of January 2021. In Congo, the Australian firm is claiming damages of $8.76 billion, or more than CFA4,700 billion at the current value of the US dollar.

Since 2015, after several extensions of its exploration license on the project, the Australian mining junior has not managed to secure a technical and financial partner for the implementation of infrastructure related to the Mbalam project (construction of a railway more than 500 km between Mbalam and Kribi, of the mine and a mineral terminal at the deepwater port of Kribi). Successive attempts with the Chinese companies China Gezhouba, in 2015, Tidfore Heavy Equipment Group Ltd, in 2018, and AustSino, after 2018, have all failed.

On June 25, 2021, in Yaoundé, Cameroon signed an MoU with AutSino Resources Group Ltd and Bestway Finance Ltd for the construction of the railway (more than 500 km) linking Mbalam to the deepwater port of Kribi. This prompted Sundance to take AutSino to court in Australia for breach of trust. Sundance believes that the Chinese company used the data it had provided to negotiate and obtain the Mbalam permit behind its back.

Culled from Business in Cameroon

Spanish cabinet approves paid ‘menstrual leave’

17, May 2022

Spanish cabinet approves paid ‘menstrual leave’ 0

Spain’s cabinet on Tuesday approved a bill that grants paid medical leave for women who suffer from severe period pain, becoming the first European country to advance such legislation.

Menstrual leave is currently offered only in a small number of countries across the globe, among them South Korea and Indonesia.

But the proposed legislation must still be approved by the Spanish parliament, with a vote not expected for months.

It was not clear whether Socialist Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez’s minority coalition government, which has made women’s rights a priority, has enough support in the assembly to pass it.

The Spanish bill entitles workers experiencing period pain to as much time off as they need, with the state social security system — not employers — picking up the tab for the sick leave.

As with paid leave for other health reasons, a doctor must approve the temporary medical incapacity.

Equality Minister Irene Montero said the law will recognise a health problem that has been largely swept under the carpet until now.

“Periods will no longer be taboo,” she told a news conference after the cabinet approved the bill.

“We will be the first country in Europe to introduce a temporary sick leave that is fully financed by the state for painful and incapacitating periods,” she added.

“No more going to work with pain, no more taking pills before arriving at work and having to hide the fact we’re in pain that makes us unable to work.”

Montero belongs to the far-left Podemos party, Sanchez’s junior coalition partner which has been the driving force behind the law.

‘Have to be careful’

About a third of women who menstruate suffer from severe pain, according to the Spanish Gynaecology and Obstetrics Society.

Italy in 2016 proposed a bill that would have granted three paid days off to women suffering menstrual pain who obtained medical certificates.

But the draft bill did not progress before the parliamentary term expired in 2018.

Spain’s proposal has divided politicians and even unions, with some saying it could stigmatise women in the workplace and favour the recruitment of men.

“You have to be careful with this type of decision,” said Cristina Antonanzas, deputy secretary general of one of Spain’s largest trade unions, the UGT, warning it could impact “women’s access to the labour market”.

But Spain’s other major trade union, the CCOO, said the proposed measure was “justified” if period pain prevents a woman from working, and called it a major “legislative advance”.

Reproductive health reform

The Spanish legislation is part of a much wider reproductive health reform which will include changes to the country’s abortion laws.

It will end the requirement for minors of 16 and 17 to obtain parental consent before terminating a pregnancy and include measures to boost access to abortion at public hospitals.

The draft bill also calls for the free distribution of contraceptives and menstrual hygiene products in high schools, and strengthens sex education.

“We are advancing feminism. Women should be able to decide freely about their lives,” tweeted Sanchez.

Since he came to power in 2018, women have taken up most cabinet posts for the first time in Spain’s history, taking up top portfolios such as defence, economy and finance.

Spain decriminalised abortion in 1985 in cases of rape, if a foetus is malformed or if a birth poses a serious physical or psychological risk to the mother.

The scope of the law was broadened in 2010 to allow abortion on demand in the first 14 weeks of pregnancy, but access to the procedure is complicated by the fact that many doctors in public hospitals refuse to perform abortions.

Source: AFP

Southern Cameroons Crisis: Enjoying French support, Biya gang pressing on with unspeakable crimes

17, May 2022

Southern Cameroons Crisis: Enjoying French support, Biya gang pressing on with unspeakable crimes 0

Cameroon Concord News Group senior political man says the Biya Beti Ewondo gang; owing to French government unswerving support continues to carry out its unspeakable crimes with no end in sight against the English speaking people of Cameroon.

Speaking today in Dublin the Right Hon. Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai urged the US and the European Union to make a stand to put an end to Yaounde’s atrocities in Southern Cameroons.

Soter Agbaw-Ebai who also moonlights as editor-in-chief of the Concord Group said Southern Cameroonians should not allow the blood-thirsty Biya regime which kills women and children to stage the so-called national day celebration in the Ambazonian homeland.

“Enjoying French government unwavering support for decades, the Francophone military’s unspeakable crimes will continue with no end in sight – unless the USA with its European allies make a stand” Mr. Agbaw-Ebai noted.

‘Supplying weapons to Southern Cameroonians is morally legitimate under the present conditions’ he furthered.

Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai quoted the Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin who said recently on the Ukrainian situation that “There is a right to armed defense in the case of aggression.”

By Chi Prudence Asong in Dublin

IG calls for unified command against Yaoundé, urges all frontline groups to target the enemy

17, May 2022

IG calls for unified command against Yaoundé, urges all frontline groups to target the enemy 0

In response to the cold-blooded killing of civilians in Menchum by troops loyal to the Biya Francophone regime in Yaoundé, the Ambazonia Interim Government (IG) has called for a unified command against French Cameroun.

In his comments late on Monday, Dabney Yerima, the Vice President of the Southern Cameroons Interim Government, urged a very speedy formation of the command to lead self defense actions against La Republique du Cameroun.

Yerima’s call came three days after General Nka of the Cameroon government military led soldiers to Wum the chief town in the Menchum County and brutally murdered several innocent civilians.

Vice President Dabney Yerima said the Southern Cameroons struggle after the nasty Sako Ikome past is going through a new stage which demands the adoption of incisive and strategic decisions.

Yerima said the unified command will be tasked with directing the armed resistance against the apartheid Biya French Cameroun regime.

The Southern Cameroons exiled leader said Ambazonians need to get their act together in the face of Yaounde’s unbridled aggression, advocating unity between different Southern Cameroons groups.

By Isong Asu

Interaction with Biya regime is like seeking refuge in a Francophone DO’s residence

16, May 2022

Interaction with Biya regime is like seeking refuge in a Francophone DO’s residence 0

The Ambazonia Secretary of the Economy Tabenyang Brado has criticized some Southern Cameroons so-called front line leaders in Maryland USA for flirting with French Cameroun political elites in Washington and in Yaoundé, saying such moves will never help those Amba leaders.

Comrade Tabenyang Brado was speaking in a meeting with a group of Manyu stake holders in Europe on Saturday, saying, “Southern Cameroons history has proven that nothing good can come from French Cameroun political elites in Yaoundé.”

“Ambazonians believe that not only the nature of La Republique’s aggression and occupation of Southern Cameroons is destabilizing, but its continued support for the Atanga Nji Boys shows that disorder is in the very nature of the Biya French Cameroun regime,” Tabenyang said.

“The well-known interaction between some Southern Cameroons figures and the Biya French Cameroun regime is similar to taking refuge in a Francophone DO’s residence during Calez Calez,” the Ambazonia cabinet member said.

Tabenyang Brado reminded those Southern Cameroons figures that Ambassador Henry Fossung, had warned several Ambazonian personalities against helping La Republique du Cameroun, telling them that if Yaoundé had a good opportunity, they  would humiliate them as well, which they did to Chief Inoni Ephraim, Fonjindam and the late Mbah Ndam.

“Flirting with La Republique will lead to exactly the same fate,” Tabenyang pointed out.

Secretary Tabenyang’s remarks were made in reference to statements by Chris Anu in which the former Communications Secretary hinted that he gave the disgraced Sako Ikome some political deals and contacts. 

By Chi Prudence Asong

Mali withdraws from G5 Sahel regional anti-jihadist force

16, May 2022

Mali withdraws from G5 Sahel regional anti-jihadist force 0

Mali said Sunday it was withdrawing from a west African force fighting jihadists to protest its being rejected as head of the G5 regional group, which also includes Mauritania, Chad, Burkina and Niger.

“The government of Mali is deciding to withdraw from all the organs and bodies of the G5 Sahel, including the joint force” fighting the jihadists, it said in a statement.

The G5 Sahel was created in 2014 and its anti-jihadist force launched in 2017.

A conference of heads of state of the G5 Sahel scheduled for February 2022 in Bamako had been due to mark “the start of the Malian presidency of the G5”.

But nearly four months after the mandate indicated this meeting “has still not taken place”, the statement said.

Bamako “firmly rejects the argument of a G5 member state which advances the internal national political situation to reject Mali’s exercising the G5 Sahel presidency”, the statement said, without naming the country.

The Mali government said “the opposition of some G5 Sahel member states to Mali’s presidency is linked to manoeuvres by a state outside the region aiming desperately to isolate Mali”, without naming that country.

Mali has been since January 9 the target of a series of economic and diplomatic sanctions from west African states to punish the military junta’s bid to stay in power for several more years, following coups in August 2020 and May 2021.

The junta has opted for a two-year transition while the Economic Community of West African States has urged Bamako to organise elections in 16 months maximum.

Beyond Mali and Burkina, the G5 Sahel, composed of around 5,000 troops, includes Mauritania, Chad and Niger.

The military coups in Mali and Burkina Faso are undermining the regional force’s operational capacity, UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres said in a report to Security Council on May 11.

“I am deeply concerned by the rapidly deteriorating security situation in the Sahel, as well as by the potentially debilitating effect the uncertain political situation in Mali, Burkina Faso and beyond will have on efforts to further operationalise the G5-Sahel Joint Force,” Guterres’ report said.

Source: AFP

May 20: Will Mr. Biya be back before the celebrations?

15, May 2022

May 20: Will Mr. Biya be back before the celebrations? 0

Cameroon’s long-serving president, Paul Biya, was air-lifted yesterday in an air ambulance to an undisclosed European country on health grounds, though the government’s press release issued before the “monarch” left the country said he was going on a short private visit.

But no Cameroonian can be fooled by the government’s press release. It is just one of them, full of lies and cover-ups.

The 90-year-old Biya is gradually breaking down like 50-year-old Lada vehicle which has been driven on an untarred road for five decades.

At 90, nobody expects Mr. Biya to be in the pink of health. Years of unnecessary stress, the burden and responsibility of power, alcohol and his exaggerated epicurean sensibilities have taken a toll on the president’s health.

Sources close to the Unity Palace have disclosed that Mr. Biya’s health had deteriorted very rapidly and that was why a medicalized aircraft was brought in to haul him to Europe.

Though no specific European country was mentioned in the government’s press release, it was clear that Mr. Biya was heading to his usual destination – Switzerland – where he has a crowd of medical doctors who attend to him at very short notice.

Switzerland is his ideal location because he has investments there and there are few Brigade Anti-Sardinard elements there. Switzerland is also noted for its security and secrecy and Mr. Biya needs a lot of that to mask his lies.

However, given Mr. Biya’s failing health and age, will he be back in the country for the May 20, 2022 celebrations?

Many analysts hold that it will be a miracle for him to return in time for the May 20 events.

According to a source at the Presidency, many people are scared that he might not return as many of his supporters would wish.

The source, which elected anonymity, said that the president had been in excruciating pain for weeks, adding that he returned to Yaoundé from his native Mvomeka’a on an helicopter because of his failing health and the speed with which a foreign doctor was brought in to stabilize him spoke volumes to the president’s desperation.

“He was in pain and even those pictures at the airport before his trip gave away his desperation. Take a look at some of those pictures and you will see his own desperation on his face. It was like he was scared that he might not return alive,” the source said.

“Over the last few weeks, people at the Unity Palace have been very concerned. The president is more withdrawn and it appears he does not like to see anybody,” the source added.

“It is like he is also losing his mind at a very fast rate. What you saw during the 2021 AfCON final was just the tip of the iceberg. The situation is alarming and many people working at the Unity Palace hold that the end is near,” the source revealed.

“There is not much his entourage can hide. At 90, very few people are always in good health. Trying to deceive the people of Cameroon that Biya is the picture of health at that age is like telling the world that a dead lion can be brought back to life after having been killed by the bullets of a poacher. Biya is gone. His men must come to terms with that,” he underscored.

“Of course, regarding the upcoming celebrations, Cameroonians should be ready for annoying stories. The CPDM and its notorious spin doctors will come up with some irritating stories. The event might be canceled and a message will be read over the radio and TV for us. I am sure the message has already been taped,” he said.

“What should be of concern now to Cameroonians should be what will happen to the country once the bad news comes. Are our institutions solid enough? Will the constitution be respected? I see a lot of infighting taking place and multiple camps are springing up, with all of them thinking that they deserve the presidency after Paul Biya. I am really scared of the post-Biya era in Cameroon,” he concluded.

According to our source, his fear is based on the many issues created by the Biya regime. He pointed to tribalism, nepotism, corruption, youth unemployment, poor health and road infrastructure, as well as the conflict in the two English-speaking regions of the country.

He stressed that it would take a lot of sacrifices and a mindset change for a new Cameroon to be re-engineered, adding that ordinary Cameroonians must accept that they too have to help the new government in its efforts to point the country in the right direction.

Cameroon is in a pretty mess and it will take the patriotism of all Cameroonians to turn things around. The new leaders have to be hardworking and determined if they must make significant changes in the country, he said.

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai

The Holy Father canonises hermit, martyr and journalist

15, May 2022

The Holy Father canonises hermit, martyr and journalist 0

Pope Francis on Sunday canonised a Frenchman murdered in the desert, a Dutch priest killed in a Nazi concentration camp and an Indian lay convert among 10 new saints officially proclaimed on Sunday.

Thousands of people from around the world crowded into St Peter’s Square in the Vatican for the canonisation mass, presided over by the 85-year-old pontiff and attended by delegations including France’s interior minister Gerald Darminin and Italian president Sergio Mattarella.

The pictures of the 10 new saints were hung on the facade of the world’s biggest basilica.

Unlike in recent days, Francis — who was surrounded by around 50 cardinals and 300 bishops and priests — did not appear in a wheelchair.

Under a sunny sky, groups of pilgrims had begun to converge on the square, some wearing shirts or scarves with the picture of one of the new saints.

Under the rules of the Catholic Church, all 10 have already been beatified, or named “blessed”, but had to then be attributed a miracle to take the final step to sainthood.

The new saints included Charles de Foucauld, a French soldier and explorer, who became a Catholic priest and lived among Trappist monks in Syria, in Palestine, and finally among the Tuaregs in the Algerian desert.

He was murdered by bandits on December 1, 1916, but his works outlasted him and he became one of France’s most celebrated men of faith.

Men of faith

Another who made the step to sainthood was Dutch Carmelite priest, theologian and journalist Titus Brandsma, who took a stand against the Nazis during World War II.

He spoke out against them before Germany invaded the Netherlands in 1940 and afterward, encouraging Catholic Dutch newspapers to resist the occupiers’ propaganda.

Brandsma was arrested in January 1942 and ended up in the Dachau concentration camp, where he died on July 26 of that year, after being injected with carbolic acid.

He was beatified in 1985 after being declared a martyr, and was subsequently found to have enacted a miracle in healing a Carmelite priest.

Devasahayam Pillai, known as Lazarus, was the first Indian layman to become a saint, according to the Vatican.

A Hindu from what is now the southern state of Tamil Nadu, he converted to Catholicism in 1745 while working at the royal palace, where he met a captured Dutch commander who taught him about Christianity.

But his faith, and his preaching of equality of all peoples — a revolutionary view at the time — caused a stir and when he refused to renounce his new religion, he was arrested, according to the Vatican.

After almost three years of imprisonment and torture, during which he began to be visited by pilgrims, he was shot dead in a forest on the orders of the king on January 14, 1752.

He was declared a martyr and beatified in 2012, before being later attributed the miracle of resuscitating a foetus in the 20th week of pregnancy.

Source: AFP

Yaoundé: President Biya heads to Europe for a patch-up

14, May 2022

Yaoundé: President Biya heads to Europe for a patch-up 0

Cameroon’s president, Paul Biya, has left Yaoundé for Europe where he is expected to be patched up after several months of declining health.

Mr. Biya, who has been in power for forty years in a country that is permanently in economic doldrums, has been suffering from multiple ailments, including diabetes, high blood pressure, dementia and a heart problem.

The last time the brutal tyrant was seen in public was during the AfCON final in February 2022 where it could be noticed that he had lost his mind and was remote-controlled by his wife, Chantal Biya.

Recently, Mr. Biya was flown from Mvomeka’a to Yaoundé in an helicopter for him to see a French medical doctor who was in the country to help stabilize the ailing “monarch”.

But things seem to be getting out of control. Biya is gradually spiraling into another planet. At 90, his chances of surviving the colony of diseases which have transformed his body into a conference center are really slim.

It is suspected that Mr. Biya will end up in Switzerland where he has a crowd of doctors who have been attending to him.

More will be yours as we obtain it.

By  Soter Agbaw-Ebai with files from Rita Akana in Yaoundé

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