About soter

Posts by :

Biya says greater efforts needed to revamp central African economy

24, November 2019

Biya says greater efforts needed to revamp central African economy 0

Cameroonian president Paul Biya on Friday called for greater efforts to develop the economy of the Economic and Monetary Community of Central Africa (CEMAC).

“The volatility of prices of raw material continues to affect our economies, so we need to diversify more than ever before. Security challenges continue to have much pressure on our public finances,” Biya said in the capital Yaounde at the opening of the Extraordinary Summit of CEMAC Heads of State.

“Our common objective remains the acceleration of growth to respond to the legitimate needs of our population and particularly young people in terms of employment,” he added.

CEMAC growth rate stood at 1.8 percent in 2018, and inflation went above 3 percent, in spite of an uncertain world macroeconomic characterized by geopolitical and commercial tensions, Biya said.

“Our sub-region is resolute to continue its efforts to attain sustainable development and progress in spite of the obstacles it might encounter,” he said.

The summit is expected to “come up with a blueprint” that will “considerably” enhance regional integration and boost trade ties among member countries, according to CEMAC officials.

CEMAC is made up of Gabon, Cameroon, the Central African Republic, Chad, the Republic of the Congo, and Equatorial Guinea. With a total population of about 37 million, it was established to promote cooperation and exchange among its members.

Source: Xinhuanet

France-Afrique: African Union orders Britain to end ‘colonial administration’ of Chagos Islands

23, November 2019

France-Afrique: African Union orders Britain to end ‘colonial administration’ of Chagos Islands 0

Following a United Nations deadline for Britain to withdraw from th Chagos Islands, the African Union ordered Britain on Friday to end its “continued colonial administration” of the disputed Indian Ocean territory.

The Chagos Islands belong to the Indian Ocean island nation of Mauritius, according to the advisory opinion the top U.N. court issued in February. The U.N. General Assembly in May voted in favour of Britain returning the islands to Mauritius and set a deadline for Nov. 22.

In a statement the African Union called on Britain to comply with the U.N. resolution.

Britain does not recognise Mauritius’ sovereignty claim.

“The UK has no doubt as to our sovereignty over the British Indian Ocean Territory (BIOT), which has been under continuous British sovereignty since 1814,” the Foreign Office said in a statement on Nov. 5.

Mauritius Prime Minister Pravind Kumar Jugnauth called Britain’s refusal to give up control of the islands a violation of international law.

“The United Kingdom cannot profess to be a champion of the rule of law and human rights whilst maintaining an illegal colonial administration,” he told parliament on Thursday.

The only inhabited island of the Indian Ocean archipelago is home to the Diego Garcia U.S. military base, rented out by Britain and a bomber base for the Air Force.

REUTERS

Southern Cameroons Crisis: The SDF is no more!

23, November 2019

Southern Cameroons Crisis: The SDF is no more! 0

The Social Democratic Front, the so-called main opposition party in Cameroon has come to the end of its political mission and the party is in a complete shambolic situation. This week only have seen the SDF party and its leader, Ni John Fru Ndi slapped from pillar to post due to the party’s poor handling of the crisis in Southern Cameroons.

The SDF party has been rocked with a series of crises and it is hard to say who really has legitimate authority following too many inconsistent signals from Hon Joshua Osih, Chairman Fru Ndi and sometimes Hon. Joseph Mbah Ndam.

However, the latest downward trend is an indication that even Ambazonians from the Northern Zone who over the years gave their all to the SDF have now gotten enough of Fru Ndi’s Machiavellian politics rich in bribes from the Biya Francophone Beti Ewondo crime syndicate in Yaoundé.

Fru Ndi’s corrupt list is endless – expelling of sound party leaders; hundreds of millions of FCFA in improper party spending; investiture corruption; SDF Echo fraud; dodgy party appointments; a dodgy political meeting  with Biya in Bamenda; endless number of micron project grants fraud. The list goes on and on.

But what has really screwed the SDF is the Southern Cameroons Crisis that has made Ambazonians to now see themselves as one person. The Ambazonia Interim Government banned elections in Southern Cameroons and the exiled leaders are ready more than ever before to implement that decision come February 2020. This has created an atmosphere of fear and panic with several SDF MPs and Councilors quitting the electoral process convened for early next year.  

The SDF has lost everything all over Southern Cameroons and La Republique du Cameroun, because its delivery at local level has been pretty much non-existent and a vast number of Southern Cameroonians who kept faith in the party are sick and tired of being screwed over and are also now for complete independence for the people of Southern Cameroons.

Reacting to the prevailing situation, Hon. Dr Awudu Cyprian let the cat out of the bag – it can no longer be business as usual. The much respected SDF MP stated that “I shall not seek re-election into parliament in the legislative elections slated for the 09th of February 2020: Given that I have decided to put your safety-the safety of all my constituents first, before or above my personal political ambition of staying in parliament.” he says.

But such is the state of shock in the SDF party that Dr Awudu furthered in paragraph 2 of his letter to the SDF National Executive Committee that “I must not go back to parliament under the current circumstances walking on the blood and in disrespect of all my constituents who have lost their lives in the civil war.”  

And, for the first time ever since its creation in 1990, the SDF will not be able to get anyone among its dirty ranks to rally Ambazonians. Chairman Fru Ndi, Joshua Osih and members of the National Executive Committee of the SDF have nothing in their tanks. The SDF party is now a liability, and because it actually represents nothing in Southern Cameroons, there is no chance of the party influencing any development in the current Southern Cameroons political story.

The SDF may overall just metamorphose into the Ambazonia Interim Government and help the Southern Cameroons make hay.

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai

Gov’t stops CRTV from showing live images of President Biya asleep in Paris summit

23, November 2019

Gov’t stops CRTV from showing live images of President Biya asleep in Paris summit 0

French Cameroun state television (CRTV) was given standing orders not to show President Biya snoozing in France during the recent Paris Peace Forum; Cameroon Intelligence Report has gathered from senior communications officials in Yaoundé.

CRTV stopped a live broadcast and reportedly brought in some commercial slots to prevent its viewers from watching Biya sleeping during deliberations in Paris. Our Yaoundé city reporter contacted one of the Sub Directors of Programs at Mballa II with a photo of Biya sleeping and he responded by saying “President Biya never sleeps, he was resting while meditating and Cameroonians are very aware.”

Biya came to power in 1982 and is now one of the world’s longest serving leaders at the age of 86. French Cameroun Government spokesman declined our request to comment on the incident accusing Cameroon Concord News Group of a lack of professionalism and biased coverage.

Media watchdogs have expressed concern over dwindling freedom of expression in both Southern Cameroons and La Republique du Cameroun. The Biya regime has been shutting down independent newspapers ever since the beginning of the Southern Cameroons war that has claimed the lives of some 20,000 Ambazonians.

By Rita Akana in Yaounde

Ambazonia Interim Gov’t Spokesman condemns Southern Cameroons traitors

23, November 2019

Ambazonia Interim Gov’t Spokesman condemns Southern Cameroons traitors 0

The Ambazonia Communications Secretary, Milton Taka, yesterday used his first appearance before the official launch of the Amba Bonds Project to condemn every act of betrayal against the people of Southern Cameroons and their jailed leaders although he stopped short of calling for a specific action on the disgraced former Acting President Ikome Sako and his acolyte Chris Anu.

In a televised address to the Ambazonia nation aired by the Southern Cameroons Broadcasting Co-operation (SCBC) Comrade Milton Taka said the international community is expecting from Ambazonians a clear stance on unity and strategy regarding any dialogue with French Cameroun as well as with regard to self defense and protecting innocent Southern Cameroons civilians.

Secretary Milton Taka said attacks on Ambazonia clergies and civilians and also listening to social media Amba politicians serves French Cameroun interests by distracting attention from the suffering of Southern Cameroonians living under occupation and war.

Addressing the European Union, Milton Taka called for genuine peace negotiations with French Cameroun that will involve key EU states such as the UK, France and Germany including Switzerland.

The Ambazonia Secretary of Communications also said presidential, parliamentary and municipal elections have long been banned throughout Ambazonia territory. He saluted SDF MPs and councilors who have refused to be part of any French Cameroun election process and furthered that if Southern Cameroonians would like to replace the leadership of the Interim Government that will be done immediately the liberation train arrives Buea through an established political process.

Here is a partial presentation of Mr Milton Taka speech

I will like to begin today’s press briefing with two quotes that are very dear to our revolution.

“If you are neutral in situations of injustice, you have chosen the side of the oppressor. If an elephant has its foot on the tail of a mouse, and you say that you are neutral, the mouse will not appreciate your neutrality”. Desmond Tutu

“I began the Cuban revolution with 82 men. If I had to do it again, I do it with 10 or 15 and absolute faith. It does not matter how small you are if you have faith and plan of action.” Fidel Castro

Tearing apart revolutionary leader Comrade Fidel Castro’s observation when the Cuban people’s revolution became successful, we can safely say that while he began the revolution with just 82 men, thousands if not millions joined along the way; the faint hearted gave up even before the revolution picked steam, the crooks, traitors and sellouts were bought over – they sold their consciences and turned against their own destinies and to free homeland preferring slavery; gangsters ganged up and made it a business and forgot about the suffering of the masses of their people; many ridiculed patriots, many called freedom fighters all sorts of names, an international conspiracy was engineered to brand them as terrorists, anti-peace, group of destroyers, but Comrade Fidel Castro as leader stayed the course; he carried the vision, it was very clear and those who were called to liberate homeland connected with the vision, gave up everything and focused on one goal and only one goal only – the liberation of homeland.

My fellow countrymen and women, dear Ambazonians, dear people, this is that hour for us. As I have always said, we know who is who in this revolution. We know those that stand for our people, our revolution and our homeland. They have remained consistent, they have remained focused, they have remained loving and accommodating even to those who need their flesh, who throw them to enemies to devour, who pray and probably conspire with the enemy to send them to the land of their ancestors. Even with all of these, they have given them love, acted for them, protected their own and ask that they be forgiven for we aspire to be in a country where exemplary leadership moves beyond mere speeches and empty words, but is truly practiced, is auditable and is results driven.

As I was reflecting on the struggles of our people in the homeland all of them as prisoners without a crime for just being Ambazonians, as I reflected on the pain of our IDPs, refugees and detained leaders and people in LRC’s filthy detention centres, a sister from Momo Country called and in her own words she said; “Mr Secretary, I do not know if you talk to the President and all our other leaders and people in detention. If you do, please tell them I am very sorry for all the bad things some terrible individuals in this revolution are doing against them, our revolution, our flag and our nation. Tell them, we will never lose hope; that we will push LRC out of our land and that even if we are only three left, we will never disappoint them. One day they shall be free and we will celebrate our sacrifices and plan and great nation together”. Comrades, this is one of the most genuine voices I have heard for long in this struggle; I bent down my head and water dropped uncontrollably from my eyes. A majority of our people remain focused, honest and very determined. With this kind of faith, no person born of a woman can stop our match into a free homeland Ambazonia. Buea is real; our march is unstoppable.

It is very convenient to be here every day speaking to you, especially if it’s just to come and spread propaganda, but I must tell you my people that there is more work to be done than talking. Talk is cheap, our numbers of suffering people keep mounting in all fronts, that’s not good news, it means only one thing to me, that all of us need to take collective responsibility and get to work as a collective force and Yes it’s possible that we can be effective in all required fronts and reduce drastically the suffering of our masses, that should be our priority.

Our revolutionary deputy leader VP Comrade Dabney Yerima has chosen the course of hard work; less talk and more work. So much work is cooking behind the scenes. You have seen some results, more will come but we will only have a little bit of comfort when

1) Our boys are armed with the sophistication that deters LRC enemy forces from coming into our villages to come loot, steal, kill, maim, kill, and abduct our people and burn down entire communities.

 2) Our boys start conquering and holding territory where complete administration is transferred to the Ambazonian civilian population, when all kids of school going age are back in class, hospital facilities functioning and life returns back to normal

 3) We control the ground and then have reliable friends who begin the process of reconstructing our communities so that life can be bigger and better and our people able to hope again.

 My Dear people, this is why I joined this struggle to liberate homeland. I want to belief many of you joined this liberation struggle for the same reason.

In every struggle, the diaspora has been very instrumental in doing three things: endlessly funding the resistance on the ground, internationalizing the struggle and getting the international community to stand with the oppressed and suppressed people. Many of you in the diaspora have given up all of what you have, all of what you cherish, even your families for the liberation of your people. There comes a time in the life of a freedom fighter when nothing again in the world matters except freedom; when not even your life matters, when not even death or imprisonment matters except the liberation of your people.

To you listening to me who has passed that test, congratulation. The lives of our martyrs matter and they celebrate you. To all of you who have still been sitting on the fence, homeland is calling, the blood of the massacred is calling, the pain of the homeless is waning, the suffering of our people in their millions on GZ is begging you to stand up and defend homeland. The time is now, not tomorrow. What are you waiting for? Do you want to see us passing Mutengene with our flags of victory before you notice that sitting on the fence all along was unpatriotic, unrevolutionary and a betrayal of the bright future you must fight to preserve for the generation yet unborn?

If you ever doubted the justness of our struggle, let me share with you our most recent victory stories:

1.      Mr Paul Biya, President of neighbouring LRC admits during the Paris Peace Summit of 11-13 November 2019 while being interviewed by Pan Africanist Leader Mo Ibrahim that over 58 years, his country French Cameroon has tried in vain to annex or assimilate the nation of Ambazonia but failed worth fully. Our education and legal systems cited as main impediments. With him now declaring the truth to the hearing of the whole world, it is now time for the people of Ambazonia to speak – Mr President of LRC, your dream of a One and Indivisible Cameroon is dead and long buried. Be reminded that your attempted distortion of historical facts fall flat on the face. The day you and your country are able to conquer all German Kameroun territories in Chad, the Central Africa Republic and Congo and make it part of your one and indivisible Cameroun, Ambazonia will be waiting for you to talk internal law, talk facts and justice. In the meantime, we reiterate our call– Mr President that you respect Article 4B of the African Charter on the intangibility of frontiers inherited at independence by returning Colonial French Cameroon reign to your borders acquired at Independence on 1st January 1960 and leave Ambazonia alone. We have suffered enough.  

2.     Long standing diplomat of international repute, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Viktorovich Lavrov in the same Paris Peace Summit lamented that the UN failed to complete the decolonization process in the mid-19th century and indicated the case of a people who remained colonized will be opened at the next UN session.  Mr Biya’s annexation statements certainly triggered the frustration.

3.     Assistant Secretary for U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of African Affairs Tibor Naggy as early as last week at a diplomatic briefing lamented that Mr Paul Biya was being deceived by some of his top aides that he can win Ambazonia militarily in his senseless war. He gave French Cameroun free advice that they can never win Ambazonia because the Ambazonian people’s fight for dignity and the protection of their people whom they brought into the illegal union was just. He regretted the so-called National Dialogue by the Biya administration was unfortunately a smoke screen or whitewash and that Mr Biya had no choice but to talk to the people through their authentic leaders beginning with the NERA 10 led by President Sisiku AyukTabe.

Prisoners do not negotiate. We insist, he must be freed, all our leaders freed, all our people freed, LRC removes its army and occupation and negotiations allowed to facilitate the resolution of this conflict in a foreign territory, neutral ground with credible, trusted and unbiased mediators facilitating the talks, witnessed by other well known key stakeholders – Britain, France, the US, Germany, Nigeria, Ghana, South Africa, etc.

Let me turn my attention to the Swiss Talks. The Interim Government will talk to any government, group of people or organized formation that has a credible mandate and the will to end this senseless war. But the IG will do so only when such body respects Ambazonians as a people, expresses proves from onset it has a genuine mandate to be an unbiased referee, makes us certain beyond reasonable doubt that Foumban II will not happen under our watch but that through their efforts our people will be free and last but not the least guarantees internationally diplomatic protection for all participants and our leaders involved.

From a participant at the talks, Ambazonia is being played, participants are not coordinated, do not seem to have held preparatory meetings before the talks, are not sound from a competency basis given that some flying in to represent us have not even done basic research to understand the game of international conflict resolutions and negotiations.

Vice President Dabney Yerima has this to say – Ambazonia belongs to all of us. None of us is more Ambazonian than the other; let’s understand what is at stake; we are dealing with the lives of 8 million Ambazonians. Let us all return to the table for the sake of Ambazonia, suggest the names of Ambazonians and Non-Ambazonians who will make our Negotiation Team A, agree on a final list and go out there and negotiate with Switzerland, HD, Canada, Germany or any other country or organization that puts its hands up to say I want to help end the conflict.

So long as we have the right team and our non-negotiable terms are cast stone, we will be ready to even negotiate with France so long as the freedom of Ambazonia will not be traded for any compromise that does not give our people complete independence but keeps us under perpetual slavery.

So, to our Dear people who went to Switzerland truly believing HD is the way forward, fighting amongst ourselves makes us weaker and gets the enemy to prevail over us all. Let us return home, truly assess the state of things with HD, Switzerland, fortify our team and go out there getting the world to know that the Albert Mukongs of our generation, the Nkwame Nkruma’s, the Nelson Mandelas of Ambazonia have come with the full might, force and will of their people, unshaken, unmoved, focused and unrepentantly decisive and deliberate to let our people be set free at all cost.

While we focus on getting the international community to rise up from slumber and contribute efforts towards extinguishing this senseless war against our peace loving people, Fund GZ. Fund GZ; Fund GZ. That is the only way to keep our communities protected. That is the only way to remind LRC we have had enough. That is the only way to remind the international community to stop the hypocrisy and get Colonial French Cameroon to respect international law and let our people go including their glorified slaves. Fund GZ, Fund GZ, Fund GZ.

As for elections, the people of Ambazonia once settled in Buea as a free people will ask Ambazonians to drop their revolutionary hats and start political activities for those who will want to go the political route. Only then shall there be elections in the Federal Republic of Ambazonia. All political activities and elections were banned in Ambazonia from 2017. Anyone still involved in political activities is immediately asked to desist from such unpatriotic acts with immediate effect. On that note, the IG will like to congratulate Hon Awudu Mbaya of Donga Mantung County for pulling out of LRC’s election of shame, citing that it will be practically impossible to run election campaigns or elections in war torn Ambazonia, refusing he will not walk on corpses to get elected as a representative of a people who never voted for him. To all others who have already followed his example for the sake of your people, you did the right thing. It is a monumental shame that the SDF that many invested their whole lives, sacrificed their careers and gave up everything hoping it was a democratic vehicle to effect change has turned out to be a big time scam with candidates even imposed on a people from computer buttons. Our people have suffered enough. If you are silent the phase of murder, genocide, rape, you have taken the side of the oppressor because of blood money. Speak out; Ambazonians are waiting.

Our solution to stop this madness lies in funding GZ. Albert Mukong, Chief Ayamba and their fellow patriots are mourning in the ground in disbelief what the generation of sellouts has turned to be.

GZ is bleeding; the reason is – we are not funding it enough. Over the last three months we have been working day and night to make this pain a thing of the pass. VP Comrade Dabney Yerima came and introduced Amba Bonds as the product that will make Buea visible and real. Other constituencies within the IG demanded deeper vetting needed to be done to ensure that whoever gets appointed to head the project is honest, credible, competent and patriotic to the core. I am happy to announce to you that on Monday 25th November, 7PM precisely; VP Dabney Yerima will be announcing the Chairman of the Board of Governors of the Bank of Ambazonia. Most constituencies have already deployed their Board of Governors Representatives. That too will be announced.

My AmbaBond, My Freedom. It is time to own your space with a Certificate as a Freedom Fighter for the liberation of Ambazonia. Have you bought your Amba Bond? what are you waiting for? Own your AmbaBond with at least a $250 contribution to the struggle. What’s interesting is that you can start investigating towards your bond with just $1. It is a simple two step process: Go register and get a unique AmbaBond Number by visiting: https://ambabondholders.com. Save your unique number. Step 2 – buy your bond. GZ will immediately feel your contribution. The BOA has promised to deliver three things – Responsibility, Accountable and Transparency Leadership.

Is the UNHCR in Ambazonia? Note that we are aware that LRC has stopped all fact finding missions initiated by different institutions including the UN with a sole purpose of going to GZ and establishing the facts of Mr Biya’s carnage and genocide on our people. This social media news of the UNHCR collecting information from Ambazonians for whatever reason is very strange. The IG has not been approached and has not given permission for any UNHCR activities in our land. LRC is surely collecting your information for election purposes; do not share your information with anybody as this is certainly a scam.

On LRCs continuous violation of international humanitarian law, by invading refugee Ambazonian communities in a bit to poison our people or force them back to Ambazonia where they can conveniently kill them under the disguise of war, we have taken appropriate steps tell our people in Nigeria not to have anything to do with the LRC Consulate in Nigeria. We have also taken the necessary actions to stop their criminal activities.

LRC has no jurisdiction to try any of our people. The continuous detention of Mama Grace Mafuatem the mother to Chris Anu and Field Marshal and their family members have been very unfortunate. We are very glad Mama Grace and Gladys Bissama, wife to Field Marshal have been released following endless legal support. We particular thank President Sisiku AyukTabe in illegal detention and his legal team who worked tirelessly to secure their release. The facts are there for all to see. We will continue the fight until all Ambazonians illegally detained are released.

I will like to end tonight’s broadcast by addressing two individuals whom I refuse to call them Comrades because of their anti-revolutionary activities. These are the notorious Kometa Elvis and Sako Ikome. I have stayed quiet for too long but must now declassify irrefutable facts and I challenge anyone to proof me wrong.

This is what Ambazonians had to say about the supposed installation of Samuel Sako. Our people said – Weti concern we if the people of Sako Republic, Maryland Republic or Sako Kometa Comic Republic dey install their Excellency Most High President at all cost?

Serving as AVP under Sako, l want to summit that making a mistake in a revolution is not a problem if you own up to it and learn given that none of us went to a university to be prepared to run a successful revolution. The problem and a very big one is when you continue to scheme, to lie, to tear the house down using all sorts of division tactics, you continue to hire brainless surrogates to defend your illutionary power against all odds.

While l will never join the crowd to declare any Ambazonian guilty beyond reasonable doubt, l want Ambazonians to know that the revolution had come to a standstill under Sako and needed to be saved because of the following things Sako was accused of strongly supported by Kometa Elvis, both of whom my revolutionary self refuses to dignify as Comrades:

1. The IG which Sako had inherited after the January 5th a suctions was heavenly weakened and divided because of Sako factionalism schemes pitting one Comrade in the house against another. He conveniently divided the HCRR into two creating a rival faction called the House of surrogates to defend his schemes. Sako fought against the APNC, a people’s conference that was genuinely a product of some of the most patriotic means with a clear mandate to attempt to achieve unity in the struggle while strengthening all IG institutions. Sako is charged as the one man who single handedly and deliberately tore the IG into pieces before God brought it to our attention the best news of the 21st century that our President Sisiku AyukTabe and all other NERA 10 Leaders were indeed alive. Only a witch can accuse the President of dividing the IG when he came out of incommunicado detention with news from Kometa, and all credible leaders that the IG was now only a shadow of itself. Even with all the pressure that Sako be replaced, the President believed we could work with Sako and reposition the struggle. He worked through Sako to fix the broken pieces of the IG and make the IG great again. What did he get for begging that Sako’s Acting Cabinet and the APNC sit down, talk like brothers and Comrades, merge their conferences and choose one set of dates and one venue to hold the unity conference? The Sako gang changed gear because their plan to cease and maintain power at all cost was about to be destroyed – they went into the worst form of betrayal, blackmail, sabotage and sacrilege. First they said after spending almost a year in incommunicado detention, the President is not able to think straight again – What wickedness? Demons. Next, they said he had been compromised by LRC barely week’s before he was served a life sentence. After discovering the lie did not hold water, the group of criminals moved on with plan 3 – let’s lie he is ruling from jail and impeach him. Only sick, brainless and irrational fellows believed the lie. How can you rule from jail with all the limitations? Or did the demons just have so much frustration that our leaders were still alive. Any of you who has been supporting the President of Maryland Republic, you are morally very bankrupt. Go look in the mirror. It is a shame that you turn your back against true Bonafide Ambazonians whose only crime is doing everything in their powers even in detention to end your slavery.

2. Sako Ikome stands accused as a man who lies with open eyes

3. Abandoning refugees in Nigeria

4. Abandoning IDPs

5. Abandoning our people in detention and above all,

6. Failing to manage MTTB and defeating the ends of justice through fake audits

This is a Cameroon Concord News Group Production

Southern Cameroons Crisis: Addressing the wrong audience

23, November 2019

Southern Cameroons Crisis: Addressing the wrong audience 0

The Cameroon government’s comedy has entered a new scene following the dispatching of rejected government officials to Southern Cameroons for them to address a crowd that has declared them unreliable and corrupt.

It should be recalled that those delegation members have kept a tight lip for three years as the Yaounde government mowed down innocent citizens of Southern Cameroons.

The different delegations, which have sneaked into the different cities and towns of Southern Cameroons, have already begun implementing a script imposed on them by the ruling party.

In Mamfe, the vice president of the country’s Senate also known as “an old people’s home”, Senator George Tabetando, addressed a crowd of CPDM loyalists on bended knees, urging them to help bring back the sons and daughters of Manyu Division from the bushes where they have been hiding from the sex-starved, alcohol-inflamed soldiers who have been raping women and gunning down young men for more three years.

He was accompanied in his drama by the mayor of Mamfe, Ayuk Takunchong, who has been feeding fat on the people’s wealth and resources.

Mr. Takunchong, who has been at City Hall for more than five years, has never condemned the irresponsible Yaounde government for the ferocious brutality it unleashed on his people.

Though Mr. Takunchong has been urging the boys and girls who have made the Manyu jungle their place of residence for three years, to come back to town, he has never castigated the corrupt government for unleashing a reign of terror on its own people.

Mr. Tabetando, the main actor of the CPDM unpalatable, low-quality and low-budget soap opera in Manyu Division, is himself wanted dead or alive for his role in the killing of many young men in his native Bachou Ntai where he is no longer regarded as a chief.

His effort to shed tears was considered by the locals as the height of hypocrisy. He is accused of provoking his own people when the government transformed Mamfe into a slaughter house in early 2017 following the killing of four gendarmerie officers in Agborkem German, a small river-side town on the border with Nigeria.

Following an unreasonable declaration of war on the people of Southern Cameroons by the country’s president, Paul Biya, Manyu Division quickly became the epicenter of the senseless fighting and killing of innocent civilians in Southern Cameroons.

Many towns and villages in the Division have been razed by a special killing squad set up by the country’s defense minister, Joseph Beti Assoumo, who had declared in 2017 that he would implement the president’s decision without batting an eyelid.

Despite calls by the international community for the government to negotiate in order to avert a bloodbath, the Yaounde government that is wont to violence, opted for a ferocious military campaign that has resulted in the deaths of 3,000 Southern Cameroonians, the burning of more than 250 villages and the destruction of the region’s once buoyant economy.

Companies such as the CDC, SONARA, PAMOL and Silicon Mountain; a once thriving IT hub, have all gone under, leaving many families and towns in tears and hardship.

Ossing, Kembong, Agborkem German, Dadi, Kwakwa, Muyengue and other once prosperous towns were torched by marauding soldiers who had been sent by the government to teach Southern Cameroonians a bitter lesson.

But after three years, the Yaounde government is gradually figuring out that a military victory is not in the cards. A message underscored last week by the USA undersecretary for African Affairs, Tibor Nagy, who has been calling on the Yaounde government to organize a genuinely inclusive dialogue that should and must include the separatists.

He has also been urging the government to embrace the Canadian-sponsored Swiss initiative that has been endorsed by the international community.

In his view, the hastily organized, government-sponsored Major National Dialogue in Yaounde last month is just a first step towards an inclusive dialogue that will silence the guns and bring about genuine and long-lasting peace that is a prerequisite for the reconstruction of Southern Cameroons’ destroyed infrastructure and economy.

It should be recalled that Ambazonian fighters, who started their self-defense campaign with hunting rifles, have now acquired sophisticated weapons which have enabled them to give the poorly trained and unprofessional soldiers a run for their money.

More than a thousand soldiers have been sent to an early grave in the most frightening way and this has not really shocked a government which sees dialogue as a weakness.

The Yaounde government had underestimated the anger and determination of the people and it failed to factor in the Diaspora in its analysis of the situation.

Years of marginalization have sent more than 4 million Southern Cameroonians out of the country, with many settling in Nigeria, the United States, Canada, Germany, the United Kingdom, South Africa and Australia.

These Southern Cameroonians have been bearing grudges against the government for decades and they had promised to make the government pay for its inhuman treatment of a people who voluntarily opted to join their brothers in East Cameroon.

With such a huge and professional Diaspora, the fragile and cash-strapped government does not really stand a chance, as Southern Cameroonians living abroad still have a stomach for a fight and determined to deliver a nightmare to the Yaounde government on a platter of gold.

Their financial contributions have enabled the fighters to acquire sophisticated weapons and their remittances are helping both the refugees and internally displaced persons to stay alive, albeit in very uncertain conditions.

The current scene of the government’s nauseating drama will surely not douse the fire. Southern Cameroonians are angry and justifiably so. They have lost friends and family in a war that was not necessary.

Rather than seek to address the issues that have triggered this strong overflow of powerful and devilish emotions in Southern Cameroons, the government has chosen to walk its usual path of trickery and manipulation that only leads to death and destruction.

Until the Yaounde government changes its strategy and embraces the truth, its numerous delegations to Southern Cameroons will continue to address the wrong audiences and the outcomes will be the same – no schools for many children, declining economy, unemployment, criminality and bitterness.

By Dr. Joachim Arrey

Real Madrid wants to sign Andre Onana

22, November 2019

Real Madrid wants to sign Andre Onana 0

Goalkeeper André Onana of Ajax and Cameroon national team may continue his professional football career at Real Madrid. 

According to Tuttomercato, Real view 23-year-old Onana as a replacement for Thibaut Courtois in the future.

 In the current season, Onana has made 22 appearances for Ajax and conceded 18 goals. 

André Onana is a student of the FC Barcelona Football Academy, and the Cameroon goalkeeper played within the Barça system in 2010-2015.

Source: Sports.news.am

China Is Not In Africa For Charity, But To Control Its Resources

22, November 2019

China Is Not In Africa For Charity, But To Control Its Resources 0

Africa is on the cusp of a new period in its history, its renaissance. Freed from centuries of colonialism and neo-imperialism, Africa has the opportunity to become a center of economic might to provide prosperity to the continent’s growing population. Yet, at present, Africa unfortunately faces a new danger: Sino-imperialism, the risk of falling under the control of China largely through Chinese economic investment and loans. The People’s Republic of China has long supported African states since the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) came to power in 1949. Under Mao, China’s backed African liberation movements in an effort to advance Maoism and offset Soviet and American influence. In much of Africa today, China is the imperialist power. 

China is in Africa now not to advance Maoism, but to control its resources, people, and potential. From building railways in Kenya and roads in rural Ethiopia to running mines in the Congo, China has drastically changed the African economic landscape in the twentieth century. China lent nearly $125 billion to Africa between 2000 and 2006 and recently pledged $60 billion at the 2018 Forum on China-Africa Co-operation. The Chinese superficially appear to maintain a mutually beneficial relationship with Africa by providing financial and technical assistance to Africa’s pressing developmental needs. Trade between China and Africa has grown from $10 billion in 2000 to $190 billion by 2017. It is estimated that 12 percent of Africa industrial production, or $500 billion annually—nearly half of Africa’s internationally contracted construction market—is carried out by Chinese firms.

China’s activities in the African continent have yet to receive the attention they deserve in the West. China’s behavior in Africa is important for three major reasons. First, China is the source of significant investment capital twinned with a prodigious ability to create infrastructure, both of which are needed by many African states. Second, China’s behavior in Africa provides the rest of the world with insight into how it will behave towards other states, particularly the states of the Global South, as it becomes equal in power with the United States. Third, what China is doing in Africa does not augur well for the rest of the world. China’s activities and behavior in Africa may only be described as neo-colonial and exploitative of African peoples and the environment.

China’s abusive behavior towards African states has occurred for decades. In 2007, Guy Scott, the former agricultural minister in the Zambian government told The Guardian, “We’ve had bad people before. The whites were bad, the Indians were worse, but the Chinese are worst of all.” But Sino-imperialism is getting worse as China grows in power and seeks evermore resources.

There are copious examples of the negative consequences of Sino-imperialism. One archetypical case is the China National Petroleum Corporation, the state-owned oil and gas company, which is a major investor operating in South Sudanese oil fields. The Chinese pollute the local environment with impunity, resulting in children born with deformities, the poisoning of livestock, destruction of fertile land, and the pollution of rivers. Additionally, the Chinese cause environmental destruction in the Northern Upper Nile and Ruweng states affects the indigenous Dinka Padang communities of South Sudan. The Chinese help produce oil generating revenue and economic opportunities but are not bound with environmental standards.

The Chinese influence in South Sudan also results from road construction and infrastructure development. South Sudan will provide thirty thousand barrels per day of crude to the Export-Import Bank of China to fund the construction of roads and infrastructure development. This includes the construction of a 392-kilometer (244-mile) road from Juba to Rumbek and from Juba to Nadapal on the Kenyan border, which is being built by a Chinese firm using Chinese technology and manpower.

South Sudan’s neighbors, Ethiopia and Kenya, received loans for infrastructure projects from the Chinese. The Chinese Belt and Road Initiative has introduced dynamic infrastructure projects such as the Standard Gauge Railway. The railway connects Djibouti, Ethiopia, and Kenya. The railway was Ethiopia’s first railway in over a century and Africa’s first fully electrified line. The railways cuts travel time from the capital Addis Ababa to Djibouti from two days by road to twelve hours.

The Standard Gauge Railway appears to be providing revolutionary infrastructure to stimulate economic growth, but the details demand scrutiny. The project cost nearly $4.5 billion, partly financed by the China Export-Import Bank. The railway uses Chinese trains, Chinese construction companies, Chinese standards and specifications, and operated by the China Railway Group Limited (CREC) and China Civil Engineering Construction Corporation.

As might be expected from this Sino-imperialist project, the railway has been plagued with technical and financial challenges, which calls into question Ethiopia’s dependence on Chinese technology and debt-finance. The African country is struggling to repay its loan to China and reap the benefits of this dynamic infrastructure project. In 2018, Addis Ababa negotiated with China and structured its loan terms from fifteen to thirty years. In next door Kenya, as a result of heavy borrowing by the government, China may seize the port of Mombasa. According to Kenya’s Daily Nation newspaper, the terms are Draconian and state “neither the borrower [Kenya] nor any of its assets is entitled to any right of immunity on the grounds of sovereignty, with respect to its obligations.”

In addition to these abuses, the Chinese presence in Africa is defined by a purposeful isolation from the indigenous population. Chinese firms bring in their own drivers, construction workers, and support staff, denying these employment opportunities to Africans, and often live apart from the African societies in which they reside.

These activities are only an example of China’s abusive behavior in Africa. Africa endured colonialism and neo-imperialism for hundreds of years. Just as Africa has freed itself from those bonds, it needs to work with the West and other states to provide alternatives to Chinese money and infrastructure. The greatest threat Africa faces today is Sino-imperialism. It is now in danger of being captured by China’s sinister Sino-imperialism that will keep Africa from entering its renaissance.

Source: The National Interest

Africa Cup of Nations: Cameroon 2021 dates ‘to be decided’

22, November 2019

Africa Cup of Nations: Cameroon 2021 dates ‘to be decided’ 0

The dates for Cameroon 2021, the next Africa Cup of Nations, are yet to be decided, the Confederation of African Football (Caf) says.

The announcement raises the possibility of the tournament returning to its previous schedule of January/February.

Egypt 2019 was the first Nations Cup to be held in June/July.

Caf say the Cameroon move is due to weather conditions in the country but a move would also avoid a clash with the newly relaunched Club World Cup.

Cameroon are also the hosts, in 2020, of the African Nations Championship, for locally-based players, and that will take place in April.

But an April Nations Cup would clash with the end of the European club season, so is unlikely be an option.

CAF says it will make a decision on the dates “jointly” with the host country.

The news was one of a number of decisions made at CAF’s Executive Committee meeting in Cairo on Thursday.

The governing body confirmed its decision to cancel its long-term media rights contract with French company Lagardere, which CAF says is legally required.

Lagardere has previously said it would challenge the decision or demand “a significant amount of cash”.

Caf also called for bids to host the 2020 Africa Women’s Cup of Nations, which is still without a host after Congo Brazzaville pulled out.

And they announced the return of an award for players based on the continent.

There hasn’t been one since 2017, but the Executive Committee announced a new trophy for the best player featuring in the continent’s inter-club competitions – the African Champions League and Confederation Cup.

Source: BBC

Yaounde: Six-nation central African summit debates future of CFA franc

22, November 2019

Yaounde: Six-nation central African summit debates future of CFA franc 0

Leaders from six central African countries gathered Friday in Cameroon for a summit expected to focus on the CFA franc, whose future has come under question in West Africa.

The extraordinary one-day meeting in Yaounde included leaders from Cameroon, Chad, the Central African Republic, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon and the Republic of Congo.

Cameroon President Biya hosted the summit and said it “gives us a new opportunity to exchange and agree additional measures that can consolidate the economic recovery of our region.”

Five of the six nations were represented by their heads of state, while Gabon, whose President Ali Bongo Ondimba suffered a stroke last year, sent its prime minister.

As members of the Economic and Monetary Community of Central Africa (CEMAC), the nations jointly use the CFA franc, a currency rooted in the French colonial era in western and central Africa.

The CFA franc will be on the agenda, according to press kit distributed by Biya’s office.

“The currency inherited from colonisation divides economists and heads of state in the (CFA) franc zone,” it said.

“(It) is being presented by numerous financial experts as a brake to development.”

The CFA — its initials come from the French words for African Financial Community — was launched on December 26, 1945 as a “franc of the French colonies of Africa.”

The money then morphed into two geographic variants, one for eight countries in western Africa and another for six in central Africa, with a combined population of 155 million people.

CFA member countries must lodge reserves with the Bank of France.

The currency is essentially pegged to the euro, at a fixed rate of 655.96 CFA francs per euro.

The arrangement guarantees unlimited convertibility of CFA francs into euros, facilitates inter-zone transfers and helps price stability.

But detractors say the CFA franc is a “post-colonial” contract that prevents countries from exercising sovereignty over their currency, or which enables France to wield influence in Africa.

The 15 member states of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) have agreed to adopt a single currency, the “eco”, as early as next year.

Prospects of earlier changes to the region’s currency dramatically surfaced this month when Benin leader Patrice Talon said the western African states planned to pull their reserves from the Bank of France.

“We are all agreed, unanimously, that we should put an end to this model,” Talon told French broadcasters RFI and France 24 on November 14.

Source: AFP

«< 824 825 826 827 828 >»