About soter

Posts by :

24, May 2019

Human Rights Watch weighs in on the burning of 70 homes in Bamenda ⁰

Cameroonian soldiers went on a rampage in the English-speaking North-West region on May 15, 2019, burning over 70 homes in Mankon, Bamenda. Soldiers dragged one man from his house, shooting him dead in the street.

In a news release issued on May 16, the defense ministry announced that it had opened an investigation into the burning of homes and destruction of property. The government should hold soldiers involved accountable.

“The government’s move to investigate these attacks on civilians and their property is an important step to ensure accountability,” said Lewis Mudge, Central Africa director at Human Rights Watch. “The investigation should be prompt, independent, and impartial, but it should not end there. The government should immediately review other cases of alleged abuses by its security forces and prosecute those responsible.”

Human Rights Watch interviewed 15 residents of Mankon, including 10 witnesses, who described how soldiers from the Air Force and the Rapid Intervention Battalion coordinated the attack. Human Rights Watch also reviewed satellite imagery showing over 70 buildings affected by fire and photographs and videos showing extensive destruction of property.

Satellite image showing over 70 buildings affected by fire in Mankon, Cameroon, between May 13 and 17, 2019. Damages reported might be underestimated due to the low resolution of the image.

Over the past three years, Cameroon’s Anglophone regions have been embroiled in a cycle of violence that has led to 1,800 deaths and uprooted half a million people from their homes. Government forces and armed separatist groups have committed serious human rights abuses against the civilian population.

On May 15, following the killing of two Air Force soldiers by suspected armed separatists, security forces killed Nwacha Christopher Neba, a 41-year-old mechanic, and burned down scores of private homes and shops across Alachu, Matsam, and Muwatsu, three neighborhoods in Mankon, in what appears to be retaliation against residents perceived as sympathetic to separatists. A witness said that the military went to Neba’s house in Alachu, “broke down the door, pulled him out, and beat him savagely.” The witness then heard gunshots. He said the man’s body was found in the street shortly afterward, shot in the head and the back.

Ten witnesses said soldiers looted homes and shops and killed domestic animals.

A pastor whose home was burned in the Alachu neighborhood said that Air Force soldiers stormed his neighborhood at around 2:30 p.m., shooting indiscriminately. “When we saw them approaching, we ran away and sought refuge in a nearby church,” he said. “The soldiers shot my five pigs, broke the door of my home, and set it ablaze. We saw them stealing drinks from a store, drinking and celebrating.”

Another Alachu resident, a teacher, said: “When the soldiers came, I ran, and they chased me. I managed to hide in the Baptist church. When I came out, I found that my house was completely burned and now I have nothing left.”

A local authority from Muwatsu said: “In our area, more than 100 people are now homeless. The military burned up to 20 homes and destroyed our neighborhood council office.”

Carpentry shops burned on May 15, 2019 by security forces in Alachu, Mankon, Bamenda, North-West region, Cameroon.

In the days that followed the attack, the military prevented some residents from taking photos and assessing damage to their homes. “The day after the attack I tried to go back and evaluate the extent of the destruction,” an Alachu resident said. “I was stopped by the soldiers stationed at the junction in Mile 8 and threatened at gunpoint because I tried to take pictures of my burned home.”

On May 17, the governor of the North-West region established a commission to identify victims from the “incident” in Mankon and evaluate their needs, the humanitarian situation, and the material damage and property destroyed. The commission is scheduled to submit its report by May 24.

Unlawful killings and destruction of private property by the Cameroonian security forces have been rife since the crisis started. Human Rights Watch has documented extensive burning of villages by members of the security forces between 2017 and 2019 in both the North-West and South-West regions, as well as killings of civilians.

The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights requested permission to investigate abuses in the Anglophone regions in 2018. The government has not yet granted permission. The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights visited Cameroon in early May and raised the lack of access for both international and national human rights activists and humanitarian agencies.

The Cameroon government denied a Human Rights Watch researcher entry to the country on April 12, two days after Human Rights Watch published a report on a deadly attack by soldiers, gendarmes, and members of the Rapid Intervention Battalion on a village in the North-West region.

Both Cameroonian authorities and the separatists should stop abuses of residents and ensure that humanitarian organizations have free and unhindered access to the area to assess the needs of the population and provide assistance, Human Rights Watch said. The government should also permit human rights monitors to operate without hindrance and allow independent scrutiny of its efforts to adhere to international human rights law.

“Cameroonian soldiers dragged a man out of his home and killed him in Mankon, and burned dozens of houses to the ground,” Mudge said. “Cameroonian authorities should ensure that the investigation of the attack is independent and transparent and holds those responsible accountable. And it should allow independent monitors into the country.”

Source: Human Rights Watch

23, May 2019

Populists look to cause upsets in EU elections as polling begins ⁰

Populists are hoping to cause upsets across the EU as the European Parliament elections get under way on Thursday in polls that could challenge the Brussels consensus.

Britain and the Netherlands kick off four days of voting across the continent in a battle for the future of the European integration project.

More than 400 million voters across 28 nations are eligible to elect 751 MEPs Britain included.

Having voted to leave the EU in a seismic referendum in 2016, Britain was originally meant to depart on March 29 and therefore not take part in these elections.

But its MPs have not been able to agree on a divorce deal and Britain now finds itself in the absurd situation of electing lawmakers to an institution it is planning to leave.

The Brexit Party, formed only this year by eurosceptic figurehead Nigel Farage, is leading the latest British opinion polls by a solid margin.

“We are attempting a peaceful political revolution in this country,” Farage told the party’s final rally on Tuesday.

“The establishment: they’re not frightened they’re absolutely terrified!” Farage said of his party’s rise.

Opposed to closer EU integration

In the Netherlands, flamboyant populist Thierry Baudet, a classics-quoting climate sceptic, is on course to beat Prime Minister Mark Rutte’s Liberals.

Once best known for naked Instagram selfies and controversial comments about women, Baudet, 36, stunned Europe in March when his Forum for Democracy became the biggest party in the Dutch senate.

Around the continent, national leaders are scrambling to mobilise their supporters to resist the populist surge.

These are the ninth European parliament elections since they began in 1979 and voter turnout has dropped each time, hitting 43 percent in 2014.

European governments fear a good showing for eurosceptics will disrupt Brussels decision-making.

Opinion polls predict a significant advance for nationalist and populist forces opposed to closer EU integration and threatening mainstream reform efforts.

‘Everything has changed’

Matteo Salvini of Italy’s anti-immigrant League and Marine Le Pen of France’s far-right National Rally (RN) want their Europe of Nations and Freedom (ENF) group to become the third largest in Brussels.

Le Pen wants to strike a blow to Emmanuel Macron’s faltering French presidency by overtaking his centrist, pro-European party Republic on the Move.

Polls give the RN party a slight edge.

“Everything has changed,” she told AFP.

“Before we were on our own on the European scene… we didn’t have any allies. But in the space of a few months, a whole range of political forces have risen up in spectacular fashion,” she said.

And in Britain, the rise of Farage is adding to the pressure for Prime Minister Theresa May to announce her resignation in the days to come over her failure to deliver Brexit on time.

The British leader’s woes were made worse Wednesday when her representative in parliament Andrea Leadsom quit, putting May’s government under further strain.

However, the strong showing by eurosceptics is not expected to sweep the whole bloc, with voters from Spain to Ireland and the former Soviet Baltic states showing solid backing for the EU.

The latest Eurobarometer survey commissioned by the European Parliament found 61 percent of respondents calling their country’s EU membership a good thing the highest level since the early 1990s.

The polls open at 0530 GMT in the Netherlands and 0600 GMT in Britain.

The polls will open on Friday in the Czech Republic and Ireland, and on Saturday in Latvia, Malta and Slovakia.

But most countries will be voting on Sunday, with the results expected overnight into Monday.

Centre-right set to win

Nine different projections this month predict that the EPP, the main centre-right bloc in the assembly, will come out with the most seats ahead of the main centre-left PES bloc and then the ALDE liberals.

Former Luxembourg prime minister Jean-Claude Juncker is stepping down after five years as president of the European Commission.

EPP leader Manfred Weber is their candidate to replace him, while the PES is putting up former Dutch foreign minister Frans Timmermans.

The hunt will also be on for someone to replace former Polish premier Donald Tusk as chairman of the EU leaders’ council.

Other prime jobs up for grabs will be those held by a trio of Italians: High Representative for foreign relations, Federica Mogherini, Mario Draghi at the European Central Bank and European Parliament speaker Antonio Tajani.

(AFP)

23, May 2019

Southern Cameroons Crisis: Yaounde Remains Resilient Amid Crisis ⁰

In 2015 and 2016 the Republic of Cameroon could not just jubilate on their Independence Day, which occurs on May 20, but had something to show. During celebration images of major development in infrastructure and socioeconomic development were displayed for the view of invitees.

However, since 2018, the desire for development has come to face challenges arising from violent clashes between separatist fighters and the national army in the North-West and South-West of the country, thereby killing people, burning towns and villages, and displacing tens of thousands of citizens.

In his deliberation in Monrovia on the celebration of National Day on May 21, 2019, one day later after the main day, May 20, Ambassador Beng’Yela Augustine Gang said, “In recent months, my country has been traversing stormy weather with some vibrations being felt under the stout national edifice.”

Amb. Gang, however, mustered the courage that for the very large majority of Cameroonians, the long-established reputation as a haven for peace in the sub-region will not easily pass into oblivion.

He said amid the national challenges, both their leadership and citizenry have always deployed immense passion and conviction in the task of consolidating mutual tolerance.

According to the ambassador, the Cameroonian populations, despite the tough moments in the country’s history, have continued to move with confidence into each other’s ethnic and linguistic zones to find temporary fraternal relief.

While confronted by national crisis that has the propensity to halt development, Amb. Gang said the government’s intention for development of the people of Cameroon remains on the agenda.

He said in the last two years the government has been actively engaged in peace and reconciliation initiatives characterized by the creation of an exclusive, special Common Law section at the National School of Administration and Magistracy that trains career judges and civil administrators and state financial managers.

He added that under a decree of December 13, 2018, there was suspension of prosecution followed by the release of almost 300 detainees arrested in connection with the Anglophone unrest; the creation of a National Commission for the Promotion of Bilingualism and multiculturalism by Decree of January 23, 2017, the opening of an English-speaking Higher National Polytechnique in Bamenda as an undergraduate-level institution attached to the University of Bamenda that was itself opened in 2011 as the second purely English Language State University of Cameroon.

Other were the launch of the over 20 million dollar National Emergency Humanitarian Assistance Program for the North West and South West regions, and the creation by presidential decree of November 30, 2018 of a National Committee for Disarmament, Demobilization and Reintegration.

The NCDDR holding centers, according to Amb. Gang, has started receiving “Repented” fighters, who are assured that the laying down of their arms would be tantamount to total pardon and rehabilitation.

“With the slight resurgence of Boko Haram incursions, especially in North East Nigeria, Cameroon has been under renewed pressure to host over 30,000 hew refugees with UNHCR support; and lastly, but without being exhaustive, recent repeated calls by President Paul Biya that we have now reached the time for urgent forgiveness, pardon and reconciliation,” Amb. Gang said.

He said recent visit to Bamenda, Buea, Kumba and Limbe by Prime Minister Dion NGUTE in this May at the request of President Biya confirms that the mood in favor of dialogue and reconciliation is stronger.

He assured that Cameroon will in all circumstances move steadily toward a developing nation with the hope of attaining socioeconomic emergence as a respectable middle income country by the year 2035 (Cameroon Vision 2035).

In line with its vision, Cameroon is said to have completed various hydro-electric power plants; the kribi deep sea port, a modern, indigenously-owned cocoa transformation plant in the West Region, and a new, modern state hospital.

The defense forces of Cameroon, the Ambassador noted, has continued to play key development roles—building modern roads in areas abandoned by foreign contractors scared away by Boko Haram threats.

In sports, Amb. Gang recounted that Cameroonian under 17 National Football team won the African Nations Cup in Tanzania in April 2018, while the senior Indomitable Lions qualified for the next African Nations Cup, and aim to give excellent account of themselves in Egypt this June.

A number of activities including sport encounters in Basketball with Liberia preceded the celebration on May 21, and with the cooperation of Liberians, Amb. Gang extolled the people and the police of Liberia for making the celebration a success.

For Liberia’s situation, Gang said Cameroonians truly feel what Liberians feel, and in its current moment of tension have lessons to learn from Liberia’s past.

However, he added “We also nurture fraternal hopes that Liberia does not slip back by undue presumptions into a past that we all neither want to remember, nor to see repeated.”

He lauded his diplomatic colleagues in Liberia for remaining tireless, neutral, respectful and discreet in helping Liberia to avoid retrogression.

Minister of State without Portfolio, Trokon T. Kpui, on behalf of President George Weah and the people of Liberia, extended warm felicitations to the government and people of Cameroon and recalled how President Weah has his football history tied to Cameroon.

He expressed the hope that the bilateral relation between the two countries will continue to be nurtured.

Source: Daily Observer

23, May 2019

Cameroonian girls defy prejudice to pursue soccer dreams ⁰

When Gaelle Asheri first started playing soccer in the dirt streets near her home in Cameroon’s capital, she was the only girl on the informal neighbourhood teams which used stones for goal posts and kept score by chalking results on a wall.

Asheri, 17, and her teammate Ida Pouadjeu, 16, are now among the first wave of girls being trained by professional coaches at the Rails Foot Academy (RFA) in Yaounde. It was set up in January to foster female soccer talent in a country where many still see the sport as a man’s game.

“I used to train with boys, so with boys there were some exercises I was not allowed to do because I am a girl,” Asheri said, describing how she was seen as more fragile than her male counterparts.

“But reaching here it was just another world, I was forced to do abdominal exercises, forced to do all harsh work so you reach a level where tears usually come out with sweat.”

The academy gets its name from the train tracks that hem the playing ground and turn into informal stands for the local spectators, who gather to watch the girls’ teams play all-male sides.

Global interest in women’s soccer is growing and FIFA hopes over a billion viewers will tune in to watch the Women’s World Cup in June. Cameroon’s national side, known as the Indomitable Lionesses, was one of three African teams to qualify.

Its star player, Gaelle Enganamouit, was the brains behind RFA – the West African country’s first female soccer academy. Her own experience as a young player in Yaounde showed her that it was important for women to have their own space to train, she told FIFA in January.

The academy currently trains around 70 girls, most of whom come from poor backgrounds and would otherwise not be able to afford even their own soccer boots, said coach Emmanuel Biolo.

“Here they have everything: coaches, jerseys, training equipment, a physiotherapist, and the guidance we give them all the time. Gaelle Enganamouit really wants these kids to be the next generation,” he said.

Asheri attends the academy on Saturday mornings and after school on Wednesdays, changing out of her uniform – a belted blue knee-length dress – into her team’s matching kit.

She is studying for her final baccalaureate exams, but the dream for her and Pouadjeu is to play soccer at a professional level like their benefactor.

“I’ve seen Gaelle (Enganamouit) play on TV. I’ve never missed one of her matches. She plays so well, I want to be like her,” Pouadjeu said.

Both girls initially faced opposition from family members who were worried that the sport was unfeminine. But neither have been deterred by such prejudice.

“I picked up the ball, I kicked it and I never looked back,” Asheri said, recalling the childhood street soccer games with her male cousins and neighbours. (Writing by Alessandra Prentice Editing by Alexandra Hudson)

Source: The Thomson Reuters Trust

23, May 2019

The blathering about business with Biya and Yaounde envoy praises for Sisi in Egypt ⁰

Inner City Press has asked UNSG Antonio Guterres and his spokesman Stephane Dujarric and others, “May 22-5: On Cameroon, what is the SG’s comment if any and action if any at all on for example that Paul Biya’s forces reportedly shot dead 4 month old Martha in Muyuka on 20th May?”

Now Egypt, whose strongman Sisi pals around with UNSG Guterres who has handed investigative Inner City Press‘ long time work space in the UN to a Sisi state media Akhbar al Youm whose retired correspondent Saana Youssef has not asked a question in years is lavishing praise for its business with Paul Biya’s Cameroun: in Cairo, “Cameroon Ambassador in Cairo Mohamadou Labarang commended the strenuous efforts exerted by Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El Sisi to realize development in Africa.

The diplomat made the remarks late Monday during a ceremony held at the embassy on the Cameroon national day. Labarang lauded the efforts exerted by Egypt under Sisi – the current chair of the African Union – to unite the continent and carry out development projects. Thanks to Sisi, the African free trade agreement will go into effect by the end of May, he said. He noted that the Egypt-Cameroon ties are excellent at the political level, voicing hope that the two sides would further cooperation in the economic score in the coming period.

Meanwhile, Egypt’s Deputy Assistant Foreign Minister for African Affairs Maher el Adawi underlined the depth of ties between Egypt and African countries. He noted that Sisi ordered all state bodies to further ties with African countries, referring to Sisi’s visits to African states. He added that Sisi will embark on a tour in eastern and southern African states within the coming few days.” The blathering about business with Biya is just blood money. Inside the UN, Guterres’ Global Censor Alison Smale, now leaving in August, controls a propaganda channel called UN News and a sycophantic press corpse including Sisi’s retiree while mantaining her ghoulish no due process ban on Inner City Press, now in its 322st day.

Source: Inner City Press

23, May 2019

US: Washington Police Reject Calls To Stop Anti- Biya Protest ⁰

Police in Washington DC has turned down a request from the French Embassy to send away protesters chanting Anti-Paul Biya songs in front of the Embassy. Members of Brigade Anti-Sardinards – BAS, a Pro-Kamto group are said to have gathered at the French Embassy at 4101 Reservoir Road, NW Washington DC, US, Monday May 20, 2019 to demonstrate their disdain for the Cameroon government. Reports say as they were chanting protest songs, carrying placards describing Paul Biya, Cameroon’s President as a Murderer and Dictator, elements of the DC Police appeared at the venue at the behest of the French Embassy. Our source hinted that the Embassy had called the police in the hope that protesters would be kicked out of the arena. Instead, the police allowed the protest on the grounds that those involved had duly received a permit in line with the law.

A participant at the protest said they were protesting against the Biya Regime that has used the military to kill thousands in the two English-speaking Regions of the North West and South West, adding that the choice of the French Embassy weighs on the fact that French President, Emmanuel Macron might be supporting the carnage going on in Cameroon. Live bullets corroborating those from the Rapid Intervention Battalion, a special unit of the Cameroon military known by its French acronym as BIR have been in many occasions found on the innocent civilians each time they’re killed.

On October of 2016 a disagreement in language led to agitations in the two English-speaking regions but government mismanaged it, turning it into an armed conflict with a demand by majority of Anglophones in the North West and South West for a separate state called Ambazonia. The Cameroonians were also protesting against what they describe as Electoral Holdup and also calling on the release of Prof Maurice Kamto, Chair of Cameroon’s main opposition political party, Cameroon Renaissance Movement (CRM) who has been officially charged on eight (8) counts including facing a death penalty. Kamto competed in the country’s Presidential Elections against incumbent Paul Biya and went on to declare he won. He later challenged the results at the country’s Constitutional Council where the Council’s ruling was considered by many Cameroonians as jaundiced. Kamto believes the Electoral Commission imputed figures to favour the incumbent especially as elections were boycotted in the North West and South West Regions buried in an armed conflict

Source: Leadership.ng

22, May 2019

Biya envoy enjoins compatriots to embrace peace and unity ⁰

The Consul-General of the Cameroon in Nigeria, Mrs Bessem Manga, has called on her compatriots at home and abroad to close ranks and embrace peace for the emancipation of their country.

Manga made the call late on Monday in a speech to mark the 47th Edition of the National Day of Cameroon in Lagos.

Newsmen report that the envoy made the call amid growing challenges in Cameroon, including the Boko Haram insurgency and secession threats in the southeastern flank of the country.

Speaking on “Unity in Diversity, a Major Asset of Cameroonian People in their Determined Move towards Emergence,’’ Manga said that peace was the crucial requirement for the country to aspire to greatness.

She said there was need for Cameroonians to come together and talk peace to make the country a united entity for its citizens at home and in the diaspora.

“The things that unite us are more than things that divide us. We need our people to come together to close ranks to celebrate our oneness.

“Peaceful cohabitation will make our country to move forward. My prayer is that peace should continue to reign in our dear country.

Manga applauded the government and people of Nigeria for their hospitality and show of love for hundreds of Cameroonians residing in various cities in Nigeria.

“I thank the government and people of Nigeria for welcoming and giving us chance to live within your midst. This shows how unified both countries are,” she said.

May 20 is marked yearly as the National Day of the Cameroon, although the French-speaking part of the country gained independence on Jan.1, 1960.

The British Cameroon joined the new state in 1961 but it was not fully integrated. A `federated’ system existed that prevented full national unity of the two Cameroons.

The National Day was marked first on May 20, 1972 when the Francophone and Anglophone speaking states of Cameroon unified to become one country.

Source: Today.ng

22, May 2019

Cameroonian Maid Who Killed Boss In Lagos Sentenced To Death By Hanging ⁰

The Lagos State High Court in Igbosere has sentenced a Cameroonian maid, Leudjoe Koyemen Joel, to death for murdering her Nigerian employer, Mrs Dayo Adeleke. Delivering the judgement on Tuesday, two years and five months after the crime, Justice Adedayo Akintoye convicted Joel and ordered that he be hanged to death. Justice Adebayo said, the prosecution proved beyond a reasonable doubt a count of murder pressed by the state against the Cameroonian.

Ebun’s mother at her graveside

It reads: “On the night of 20th December 2016, we received the news that our daughter, sister, and friend Dayo Enioluwa Adeleke, was brutally slaughtered in cold blood whilst defenceless and in the solace of her own home by her Cameroonian domestic help, Joel Ledjou

“Words cannot adequately describe the complete and utter devastation and sorrow that her senseless murder has caused in our lives.

“Joel had just been employed two months prior to the murder of Dayo. Dayo’s usual empathy and the need to help a ‘poor refugee’ as described by the pastor who referred him to Dayo from Mountain of Solution Ministries, led to her employing him.

“It’s ironic that the person she employed, out of her compassion, turned round and snuffed out her life in one senseless act of greed.

“Her supposed ‘offence’ to warrant being murdered by him was that she had not obliged him a two-week salary advance which he requested earlier that morning. The reward for Dayo’s kindness was death!

“Joel robbed Dayo of marriage, motherhood and longevity, a painful fact that still hurts us as a family each and every day.

“The Nigeria Police worked tirelessly in investigating the matter and the Ministry of Justice, Lagos State, in turn, has worked diligently in prosecuting the matter in court.

“Today, Tuesday, May 21, 2019, two years and five months after the murder, Justice Akintoye, sitting at the Criminal Division of the High Court of Lagos State delivered her judgment and found Joel Ledjou guilty of murder and sentenced him to death by hanging.

“This murderer who robbed Dayo of marriage, motherhood, and longevity.

“Though still heartbroken over the loss of Dayo, we are somewhat consoled that justice has finally been served. Our beloved Dayo can now rest peacefully in the knowledge that her perpetrator received the full weight of the Law for her murder.

“Dayo, our light, you will never be forgotten. You are always and forever in our hearts. Your legacy lives on through all of us who remain.”

Source: Sahara Reporters

22, May 2019

Electronic Trade Helps Cameroonian Farmers ⁰

Information technologies are changing the lives of some Cameroonian farmers who previously depended on brokers to market their goods. Now, these farmers can use the internet to find customers directly, cutting out some intermediaries and increasing their own profits.

Loic Domguia raises poultry, selling almost entirely online and through phone apps. Through electronic sales over the last year, he says he has increased his income.

Domguia uses Jangolo Farmers, an application that links producers and buyers.

“It reduces the stress on the producer,” Domguia says. “The producer no longer waits until the end” worrying about getting customers. Producers “sleep well knowing they already have orders.”

Designer Rose Ngameni says Jangolo enables producers to line up customers before bringing goods to market.

“The farmer has a higher profit margin by selling through our application,” she says. The app even enables producers to get paid in advance.

Ngameni says the app also benefits the customer. Reducing the number of intermediaries means producers hold down marketing expenses, so they can offer lower prices to customers.

Cameroon’s National Institute of Statistics reports that a fourth of the country’s 25 million residents connect daily with the internet.

Users increasingly are buying agricultural items online.

One of those e-commerce customers is Pierre Freddy Ngoudi. He says he places online orders for chicken because his work all day at a gym leaves too little time to shop. He has chicken delivered to his workplace.

Cyprain Tankeu, a specialist in electronic trade, says it’s smart for agribusinesses to develop online sales platforms. But he cautions that online sales may not always give customers sufficient information about purchases.

“If a company does not own stores, it would be difficult for buyers to evaluate the product they are buying,” he says. “… The lack of a store is an obstacle to the development of this type of e-commerce.”

The African Development Bank estimates the continent has more than a billion mobile phone subscribers, creating a huge potential market for farmers to use e-commerce.

Source: VOA

22, May 2019

Of Turkey, UN, VOA and Killer Paul Biya ⁰

After the UN Security Council on May 13 held belated “Arria formula” session about Cameroon, an informal one with no outcome on which even co-sponsors Germany and the UK refused to answer Press questions, hypocrisy and cover up of the UN’s failure remain evident.

Now Turkey, which longs to be a big(ger) power in the UN, paying for example to re-name and bar the Press from the area next to the Security Council, now the “Turkish Lounge,” is lavishing praise for its business with Paul Biya’s Cameroun: in Ankara, “Cameroon’s ambassador hailed his country’s relations with Turkey Monday while marking National Day. Victor Tchatchouwo made the comments at a gathering in Turkey’s capital, Ankara, under the theme “Unity in Diversity, a major asset of the Cameroonian people in their determined move towards emergence”. Tchatchouwo expressed the importance of excellent cooperation and solidarity between Turkey and Cameroon.

The ambassador said the number of high-level visits between authorities of both countries and commercial exchanges have been increasing in recent years. During his speech, Tchatchouwo also highlighted the role of other mutual projects, including the scholarship program granted by Turkey’s Presidency for Turks Abroad and Related Communities (YTB). The envoy added that Ankara and Yaounde are engaged in many fields, including politics, commerce, economy and education. Youth and Sports Minister Mehmet Muharrem Kasapoglu attended the embassy’s National Day celebrations. He stressed the importance of Cameroon’s decision to open an embassy in Turkey for the first time. “It will improve bilateral relations between our countries in every field,” Kasapoglu said. “Cameroon is one of the important countries in Central Africa for us. “The bilateral trade volume between Turkey and Cameroon was around $200 million last year,” he said. He added that the two countries aim to reach a trade volume of over $200 million this year.

Citing Turkish contractors’ ongoing infrastructure projects in Cameroon, Kasapoglu said: “Our companies’ interests in Cameroon have been significantly increasing.” Tchatchouwo presented his letter of credence to President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in December 2018. He is Cameroon’s first ambassador to Turkey. On May 20, 1972, Cameroonians voted for a unitary state in a national referendum.” Really? The blathering about business with Biya is just blood money – with an echo of the Kurdish issue. Inside the UN, Guterres’ Global Censor Alison Smale, now leaving in August, used a false complaint of Inner City Press daring to cover events in the Turkish Lounge as one of the few bases in her no due process ouster order of Inner City Press, now in its 321st day. We’ll have more on this.

Kuwait is a member of the Security Council, for seven more months, and heard what was said in the UNSC on May 13. Even the sanitized Lowcock and handpicked NGO version was troubling. But now on May 30 the Amir of Kuwait and the Crown Prince, Al-Sabah, told cabled congratulations and best wishes to 37 year ruler now killer Paul Biya. Kuwait’s mission to the UN, when Inner City Press was roughed up and banned from entering the UN amid its questions about Guterres’ performance, opined that “as long as UNCA is against you, nothing will change.” So much for freedom of the press: UNCA has had a president who gave an UN/CA screening to Sri Lanka government’s war crimes denial film, a photo op to UN briber Ng Lap Seng, and now has Chinese state media judging its “journalism” awards for UN coverage – no reporting on Chinese UN bribery, nor mention of the exclusion of Taiwanese journalists from the UN, etc allowed! We’ll have more on this.

On the other hand, publicly (mis) funded Voice of America which has Guterres favored access to the UN ran an article about the Arria meeting not by its UN correspondent but by another, who now writes about the Cameroon military with NO MENTION of its killings in the SW and NW of the country, or even abuses of civilians in the North. This is from VOA: “A Cameroon military engineering corps compactor is constructing a portion of the road linking its northern border town of Kousseri to the Chadian capital Ndjamena and Borno state in northeastern Nigeria. Colonel Jackson Kamgain, director of Cameroon military engineering corps, says they re-launched the World Bank-sponsored project in March 2018 after it had been abandoned for four years. He said since independence in 1961, the Cameroon military engineering corps has participated actively in the development of all localities and insures that major projects in conflict zones are not abandoned unlike in many other countries where military engineering departments concentrate only on making access easy for troops in areas of war or conflicts.” Why are taxpayers funding this? Or VOA after it lobbied UN Stephane Dujarric to oust Inner City Press? We’ll have more on this.

Because it was an informal meeting and the proponents would not answer questions and Antonio Guterres’ UN has yet to provide requested information to Inner City Press, it has allowed Paul Biya’s government to claim, in effect, that no meeting took place: “Some member states of the United Nations Security Council had an informal meeting on Monday to discuss the worsening humanitarian crisis in the Anglophone region of Cameroon. A communiqué issued by the Cameroonian Ministry of External Relations however denied reports of a UN Security Council Meeting on the Anglophone region crisis. According to the communiqué no such meeting is scheduled. The communiqué further stated that, this meeting was a ‘’ free consultation entirely outside of the Council on the initiative of certain members who are interested in the humanitarian situation in Cameroon.’‘ It further added that outcomes of this meeting will not be binding on the government since the meeting was informal as specified by Cameroon’s diplomacy.”

The meeting ended without any outcome, after Paul Biya’s longtime Ambassador Tommo Monthe lashed out at social media as UNSG Antonio Guterres does. Monthe told Inner City Press, as it asked about Biya cutting the Internet in the Anglophone zones, that Inner City Press could get thrown out of the UN. And it was, by Guterres, now 321 days and counting.

(Inner City Press went and began interested at the Ambazonia / Southern Cameroons demonstration in the 47th Street park.

Culled from Inner City Press