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5, March 2019

African finance ministers are in Yaounde!! ⁰

African finance ministers and experts began a five-day meeting Monday in Cameroon’s capital Yaounde to discuss policy actions and measures required for productive transformation on the continent.

“Africa has 30 percent of all the national resources of the world, but at the same moment what we can see is that poverty is growing. So all those countries of the African Union decided to come here to Cameroon to discuss how we can move forward so as to transform more our economies,” Louis Paul Motaze, Cameroon’s finance minister who chaired the opening ceremony, told reporters.

The meeting is organized by African Union Specialized Technical Committee (STC) on Finance, Monetary Affairs, Economic Planning and Integration in collaboration with the government of Cameroon.

“We do think in Cameroon that transforming the economy must lead to transforming our national resources so as to create more jobs for youths in particular. So this meeting is very important and we are expecting a lot of decisions and resolutions that can enable our economies to grow,” Motaze said.

Resolutions reached at the meeting are expected to be forwarded to the African Union summit in July for consideration and approval.

Xinhuanet

5, March 2019

Fire ravages about 200 shops in Yaounde ⁰

About 200 shops at Elig Edzoa market, one of the largest markets in Cameroon’s capital of Yaounde, have been ravaged by fire, according to a police report Monday.

It is reported that the fire broke out early Monday morning. “We still do not know what caused the fire. Almost all the shops in the market have been burned down. People also sustained injuries,” said the report.

Ruins from the fire were still scattered in the market.

“I have lost everything in my shop including household utensils, building material, electrical equipment worth millions of CFA francs. My neighbours have lost everything as well.” Lilian Muring who owns a shop in the market revealed.

Cameroon’s Minister of Territorial Administration Paul Atanga Nji said the government has opened formal inquiries into the tragedy.

Xinhuanet

4, March 2019

Southern Cameroons Crisis: The price of occupation ⁰

The Southern Cameroons crisis that started in 2016 is now costing billions of dollars to the Yaounde government. For long the government has thought it will bear the cost but actions by the separatists have proven that the conflict will not only be long, but costly.

The country’s economy is going through a storm and it is obvious that it might not survive. The Southern Cameroons crisis that started as a protest by teachers and lawyers has finally developed into a full blown conflict and this is costing the country’s treasury a fortune.

The Southern Cameroons economy that accounted for at least 40% of the country’s wealth is now anemic and the government is losing revenue. Most of its revenue streams in the two English-speaking regions have simply dried up. Its coffers are empty and this is a huge source of frustration for the beleaguered government.

The South West region alone accounts for more than 50% of the government foreign earnings. The country’s oil deposits are firmly rooted in the Rio Del Rey Estuary and it is being confirmed that more oilfields have been located around the creeks surrounding Tiko, a major city in the Southwest region. Oil alone gives the government millions of dollars every year. But threats by separatists to disrupt activities in the oil sector are causing the Yaounde government violent nightmares and it has been obliged to step up security to protect its oil assets in the region and this is costing it an arm and a leg.

The Southwest region is the country’s largest producer of cocoa, and with the chaos playing out there, jobs and incomes from the cocoa sector have been lost. The two English-speaking regions also account for more 50% of the country’s coffee production. The conflict in these two regions implies that the country has slipped down the list of the world’s major cocoa and coffee producing nations.

The Southern Cameroons crisis is hitting the Yaounde government like a ton of bricks. The country’s economy is suffering. Its Automatic Teller Machines (ATM) seem to be out of service. State corporations located in Southern Cameroons are already feeling the heat. Pamol, a palm oil production corporation located in Lobe, a small town in Ndian Division, has finally shut its doors as the fighting between Southern Cameroonian fighters and army soldiers takes a turn for the worse. This revenue stream has stopped flowing and Yaounde is really ill-at-ease.

Pamol’s closure is bad news for the government. More than three thousand Pamol workers are today unemployed and living in permanent fear, as the fighting between the warring factions rages on. Schools and courts in the region have been closed for almost two years and it is increasingly obvious that the Yaoundé government has lost control of certain parts of the two English-speaking regions.

But it is not only Pamol’s closure that is causing the government nightmares. The Cameroon Development Corporation (CDC), one of the country’s major employers, is also going through a rough patch. Some of its factories have closed shop, while the fighters have deliberately set some of its infrastructure ablaze as part of their economic sabotage campaign. Malende, a small town located some 6 km from Muyuka, has witnessed huge unemployment rates. The corporation’s rubber factory was set ablaze sometime last year by some unidentified men and this has hit CDC like a ton of bricks.

In other plantations, many workers have simply deserted. The fighting is disrupting economic activities in those plantations and many workers hold that it is better to quit than be caught up between the devil and the deep blue sea. The fighting, coupled with the derisory salaries the corporation pays to its workers, has made CDC unattractive and this is gradually eroding the government’s tax base.

Similarly, government revenue has taken a nosedive, as the national oil refinery located in the Southwest region is also facing some major challenges. While falling global oil prices are spreading pain and suffering among oil exporters, the declining oil output and constant attempts by Southern Cameroonian fighters to bring down the country’s lone oil refinery are leaving the government in a huge messy economic quandary. The crisis is a true nightmare to this once-upon-a-time oasis of peace. It is indeed a millstone around the government’s neck.

The government is gradually recognizing that declaring a war on its own people has been a big mistake, as the impact of the war is spreading into East Cameroon. With a large influx of internally displaced people into East Cameroon, housing and food have become very expensive in those cities receiving the internally displaced. Douala and Yaounde have been home to most of this internally displaced people and these two cities lack the proper infrastructure to handle such situations.

Declining oil revenues and falling production of some of the country’s major employers like CDC and Pamol implies that the government is heading for a financial disaster. This is exactly what is causing frustration within the government and the frustrations has pushed army soldiers to burn villages and kill young adult males in a reckless campaign that will make reconciliation impossible.

But the bad news is only getting worse by the day. Cameroon’s civil servants are facing the prospect of not receiving their salaries in the months ahead. For now, lecturers at the University of Buea have gone for three months without a salary and they are threatening to go on strike. This is bad news for the government which is cash-strapped and has many crises on its hands.

If well organized, the strike might spread to other sectors of the economy. Cameroon is like a tinder box and any spark could trigger an inferno. Cameroonians are sick and tired of the government’s indifference to their plight and they want to take the bull by the horn. The government’s abusive use of the military and the country’s institutions has been one reason that most frustrated Cameroonians have not been demonstrating, but the mindset is gradually changing as the Diaspora plays a critical role to sensitize those back home.

Meanwhile, as the government pursues its military campaign and rejects all calls for a peaceful and inclusive dialogue, many women in East Cameroon have taken it upon themselves to change things. They are now making the most of a bad situation, as many Southern Cameroonians migrate to East Cameroon to avoid being caught up in the government’s collective punitive expedition. They are using their bodies to bring about that dialogue the government is refusing to hold with Southern Cameroonians in a bid to de-escalate things.

The efforts seem to be paying off as perceptions of who the Southern Cameroonian are changing. When many Southern Cameroonians were fleeing the military’s violent operations in the two English-speaking regions of the country, not many thought they could be useful on the other side of the Mungo. Many had left their villages and cities for places they did not even know. Douala, Bafoussam, Dschang, Yaounde and Edea are some of the cities in which some of these young energetic, but idle internally displaced boys have settled.

Many were helpless when they got to these places. They knew nobody. They have been living rough and accepting whatever nature throws at them. The frustration of abandoning home has been huge and the fear of never returning to their native Ambazonia has be stalking them like a stubborn shadow.

Hunger and the stigma of being considered by their own government as terrorists have been robbing them of their smiles. But this is gradually changing. The smiles are slowly returning, and hunger, considered to be their companion, is gradually migrating to other places.

The Ambazonian has finally found work in East Cameroon. The idle boys, whose biceps and triceps are hanging loosely as if meant for destructive purposes are now fully employed as women in East Cameroon who were undersexed and sex-starved have now found a huge pool of studs who are impregnating them at an unbelievable rate.

In Douala where a huge segment of the male population is suffering from erectile dysfunction and low libido, the women are now looking in the direction of young Ambazonians who are prepared to do whatever comes their way.

Sources in Douala say, the old men do not know what to do with the young Ambazonina whose muscles spell danger to them. The old expiring men whose sex lives are in chaos are scared of these young Ambazonians, especially as the news from the warfront speaks of the bravery and determination of Ambazonians.

While the men are scared of the boys, the women, for their part, are licking their lips and smiling. The women, who have been suffering in silence, are having a never-ending party and this can be seen from the number of women who are carrying distended stomachs.

Our sources say pregnancy rates in cities like Bafoussam, Yaounde and Douala have gone up by 10% and this number is expected to rise as women open up and Ambazonians grow in confidence.

Speaking to a lady in Douala who is happily spotting a pregnancy, she said hers was the kingdom of happiness. She could not hide her glee as her cry for many years has been to be pregnant. An Ambazonian has made her dream to come true and she is now on cloud nine. She now only swears to Ambazonians.

Also, a married woman in Douala told the Cameroon Intelligence Report reporter that her husband had been neglecting his duties and this has been a bone of contention in their home. Before Ambazonians showed up in Douala, there was a lot of fighting in their home.

She added that ever since she met a young helpless Ambazonian, the fighting in their home had reduced.

“I hate the war in the two regions of our country because so many people are being killed. But the fighting out there has brought more peace than war to my family. My husband has been wondering about the sudden change in my life. He does not know he is being helped by an internally displaced person. We are all happy. I get the sex I need and the Ambazonian gets his food and a little money. My husband now sleeps in peace,” she said.

Cameroon is indeed at the crossroads. With elections around the corner and the fighting in the English-speaking regions raging on, it is clear that a disaster is lurking somewhere and before long the country could be transformed into an inferno. The frustration in East Cameroon is also mounting, as many people fall into abject poverty. It is becoming increasingly clear that Mr. Biya is not the man to lead the country to the land of promise. His time is up and there is a consensus around the world that he has overstayed his welcome.

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai in the United Kingdom

4, March 2019

US: Several dead as tornado leaves trail of destruction in Alabama ⁰

At least 22 people, some of them children, died after a tornado swept through Lee County, Alabama on Sunday, and the death toll was expected to rise as rescuers searched through the rubble of destroyed homes, authorities said.

Emergency workers faced a grim night of pulling the dead and injured from the wreckage of homes and businesses.

“The challenge is the sheer volume of the debris where all the homes were located,” Lee County Sheriff Jay Jones said in an interview with CNN. “It’s the most I’ve seen that I can recall.”

Storms, including at least one apparent tornado, uprooted trees and destroyed homes in neighboring Georgia, initially knocking out power to 21,000 customers, said Georgia Power spokeswoman Meredith Stone.

That number was reduced by more than half later on Sunday evening, she said. On Twitter, U.S. President Donald Trump urged residents of Alabama and other areas affected by the storms to be “careful and safe.”

“Tornadoes and storms were truly violent and more could be coming,” Trump wrote. “To the families and friends of the victims, and to the injured, God bless you all!”

In Alabama, Lee County Coroner Bill Harris said the death toll could rise. The East Alabama Medical Center in Opelika said in a statement that it was treating more than 40 patients as a result of the tornado and expected to receive more.

Some patients had been sent to other hospitals, it added. Severe weather unleashed one of many possible tornadoes that threatened the Southern United States on Sunday afternoon.

Tornado warnings and watches were in effect for parts of Georgia and Alabama through Sunday evening.

Video footage from the small community of Beauregard in Lee County showed homes reduced to piles of wreckage, felled trees, and debris from blasted buildings scattered across roads.

Alabama Governor Kay Ivey warned residents on Twitter that more severe weather might be on the way. She said the state was working to help families who had been affected.

A state of emergency for Alabama, issued on Feb. 23 to deal with flooding, would be extended, she said.

Temperatures falling

Lee County Schools announced on Twitter that campuses in the county would be closed on Monday.

The National Weather Service office in Birmingham, Alabama, said it was sending three survey teams out on Monday to assess damage in Autauga, Macon, Lee and Barbour counties.

“Please stay out of damaged areas so first responders can do their job,” the NWS office said on Twitter.

The storm initially left 17,000 customers without power in Alabama, but crews were able to reduce that number to 6,000 by about 9 p.m. EST on Sunday, said Michael Sznajderman, spokesman for the utility Alabama Power.

As thousands faced a night without power, temperatures looked set to fall to near freezing following the storm.

“Colder air will sweep into the Southeast behind the severe weather with temperatures dropping into the 30s (1 C) southward to central Georgia and across most of Alabama by Monday morning,” AccuWeather meteorologist Kristina Pydynowski said.

“Those without power who rely on electric heat need to find ways to stay warm,” she added.

(REUTERS)

4, March 2019

A Vatican meeting programmed for failure ⁰

Brace yourself. Tomorrow the Vatican begins a public-relations offensive in response to the sex-abuse scandal. Unless I am much mistaken, unfortunately, a public-relations effort is all that we can expect.

If the long-awaited meeting on The Protection of Minors in the Church adheres to the agenda set by the Vatican organizing committee, the event will not restore public confidence in the Catholic hierarchy. On the contrary it is very likely to do further damage to the bishops’ credibility.

The meeting, which draws together the leaders of all the world’s national bishops’ conferences, will last three days. Beyond that, not much can be predicted with any degree of certainty. Some ranking Church officials (including Pope Francis) have cautioned that we cannot expect too much from this meeting; others (including Cardinal Blase Cupich) have predicted that it could be a watershed moment.

In all likelihood the meeting will conclude with a strong statement—one more in a long line of strong statements—that the Church will not tolerate the abuse of the innocent. But the Vatican’s preparations for the meeting, with the careful delineation of subjects that will and will not be discussed, virtually guarantee that the meeting will not address the key elements of the scandal, unless some bishops deliberately break away from the carefully orchestrated program and demand a more substantive conversation. Cardinals Burke and Brandmüller plead for that sort of bold action in their last-minute appeal to the bishops who will participate in the Vatican conference.

Particularly in the United States, where the scandals of last summer outraged loyal Catholics, the results of another failed Vatican initiative could be disastrous. Bear in mind that the American bishops were poised to take action last November, to hold themselves accountable for negligence and to investigate the sources of the scandal, until their initiatives were tabled by a directive from Rome. Yet nothing on the set agenda for this 3-day meeting addresses the initiatives that the American bishops had planned to adopt.

In fact there are clear indications that the Vatican public-relations team wants to downplay American concerns. An article on the official Vatican News site, previewing the meeting, lists the stages in the universal Church’s response to the scandal without even mentioning the American bishops’ debates in 2002 or their adoption of the Dallas Charter. If any American Catholics hope that the meeting will help Vatican officials to learn from the American experience, those hopes will be dashed by a look at the prepared agenda.

Conspicuously missing from the program is any major address by Cardinal Sean O’Malley, the chairman of the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors. It was shocking that Cardinal O’Malley was not included in the preparatory commission for the event; it is still more astonishing that he is not listed among the featured speakers.

But there is an odd sort of consistency here. Look through the web site created for this week’s meeting , and search for any mention of the commission that Cardinal O’Malley chairs. The organizers barely acknowledge the existence of this papal commission, and make no mention of the commission’s recommendations.

During the first day of the meeting, the topics for the two major presentations by ranking prelates are “Smell of the sheep” and “Church as field hospital.” Both of those titles are phrases made popular by Pope Francis; neither is particularly related to the sex-abuse scandal. On the second day, cardinals will speak on “collegiality” and “synodality.” Again, the topics are dear to the Pope, but there is no clear connection to the sex-abuse scandal.

Far more important, however, are the topics that are not on the agenda. Barring a change in plans, there will not be any discussion of:

homosexual influence within the clergy;
why the Vatican has eased penalties on abusive priests;
why the Pope himself has promoted bishops accused of covering up—and in some cases actively engaging in—sexual abuse;
canonical structures to hold bishops accountable for negligence;
how Theodore McCarrick rose to ecclesiastical influence, and who protected him.

In short, if the Vatican organizers have their way, the meeting will not discuss the issues that must be resolved if the Church is finally to resolve the scandal. The Vatican speaks of transparency, but on the eve of the meeting, organizers refused to answer direct questions about the status of a Vatican official who has been credibly accused of abuse. The organizers speak of accountability, but will not agree to look into the actions of Vatican officials who covered up for McCarrick.

Understand this: The purpose of the meeting that opens at the Vatican tomorrow is not to begin a serious inquiry into the causes of the sex-abuse scandal. It is to prevent a serious inquiry into the causes of the scandal. Now the question is: Will it succeed?

Source: Catholic Culture.Org

4, March 2019

Government official kidnapped in Southern Cameroons ⁰

The Northwest regional chief of Cameroon’s Ministry of Environment and Nature Protection was kidnapped early Sunday by “unidentified gunmen” in Bamenda, Cameroon’s largest Anglophone city, local authorities said.

“The regional chief, Mr. Henry Awah was abducted alongside his wife by unknown gunmen. We are still trying to locate their whereabouts and secure their safe release,” a government official who asked not to be named told said.

Awah is among about six government officials that have been kidnapped in the Northwest, one of the two troubled English-speaking regions of Cameroon, since the armed conflict started in 2017.

Early last year, two top government officials were abducted in the restive region and were later declared “missing” by the government.

Kidnappings have become rampant in the two troubled Anglophone regions of Northwest and Southwest where armed separatists are fighting to secede from largely French-speaking Cameroon and create a new nation they called “Ambazonia”.

The United Nations estimates that at least 430,000 people in Cameroon have been displaced internally by the conflict.

Xinhuanet

4, March 2019

Cameroon army said to massacre several Southern Cameroons civilians ⁰

About 10 people were killed and several others injured early Friday in three separate localities in Northwest, one of the two troubled English-speaking regions of Cameroon, local sources said.

“Three civilians were killed in Ntem, three others were shot in Mbaw and four boys who were apparently traveling to Nigeria were also shot dead. All the three villages are neighbors. Some of those killed are women,” a local resident, who asked not to be named revealed.

There were conflicting reports of who committed the killings. Locals claimed that they were shot by government forces but the army said they were armed separatists killed in their hideouts.

“The military identified their hideouts and attacked. All of those killed have been terrorizing the people in the areas. Several others were injured and they escaped,” a military source, who also opted for anonymity, said.

On Thursday, one soldier and one armed separatist were killed when separatists attacked army camps in the localities of Mbiame and Bafut of Northwest, according to the army.

Since November 2017, government forces have been clashing with armed separatist forces who want the two English-speaking regions of Northwest and Southwest to secede from the largely French-speaking nation and form a new country called “Ambazonia.”

Xinhua

3, March 2019

Southern Cameroons Crisis: Young Southern Cameroonians find work on the other side of the Mungo ⁰

When many Southern Cameroonians were fleeing the military’s violent operations in the two English-speaking regions of the country, not many thought they could be useful on the other side of the Mungo.

Many had left their villages and cities for places they did not even know. Douala, Bafoussam, Dschang, Yaounde and Edea are some of the cities in which some of these young energetic, but idle internally displaced boys have settled.

Hunger and the stigma of being considered by their own government as terrorists have been robbing them of their smiles.

But this is gradually changing. The smiles are slowly returning, and hunger, considered to be their companion, is gradually migrating to other places.

The Ambazonian has finally found work in La Republique. Like Manyu people will say, if you don’t want to lose your kingdom, don’t have a daughter. The idle boys, whose biceps and triceps are hanging loosely as if meant for destructive purposes are now fully employed as women in East Cameroon who were undersexed and sex-starved have now found a huge pool of studs who are impregnating them at an unbelievable rate.

Sources in Douala say, the old men do not know what to do with the young Anvazonians whose muscles spell danger to them. The old expiring men whose sex lives are in chaos are scared of these young Ambazonians, especially as the news from the warfront speaks of the bravery and determination of Ambazonians.

While the men are scared of the boys, the women, for their part, are licking their lips and smiling . The women, who have been suffering in silence, are having a never-ending party and this can be seen from the number of women who are carrying distended stomachs.

Our sources say pregnancy rates in cities like Bafoussam, Yaounde and Douala have gone up by 10% and this number is expected to rise as women open up and Ambazonians grow in confidence.

She added that ever since she met a young helpless Ambazonian, the fighting in their home had reduced.

For more on this interesting story, check the Cameroon Intelligence Report as the Group Chairman, Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai, has promised to bring a smile to your faces through a detailed report on this.

3, March 2019

US: Sanders attacks Trump at campaign launch ⁰

At his first rally for the US 2020 presidential bid, Senator Bernie Sanders promised to defeat Donald Trump, calling him “the most dangerous president in modern American history,” in New York City on Saturday, March 2.

Back to his native neighborhood, Sanders was cheered by a crowd at Brooklyn College, where he studied for a year. Greeted with chanting and banners reading his name, the senator criticized Trump’s approach to immigration.

Sanders contrasted his spare upbringing with Trump’s privileged youth as the son of a New York real estate developer.

“I did not come from a family that gave me a $200,000 allowance every year beginning at the age of three.” Sanders said. “I did not have a father who gave me millions of dollars to build luxury skyscrapers, casinos and country clubs,” Sanders added in another dig at Trump.

The first weekend on the campaign trail signaled Sanders’ emphasis on expanding his support among minority voters, who he struggled to connect with during his 2016 campaign.

The twin rallies over the weekend also served as a reminder to Democrats of his ability to generate grassroots enthusiasm. During his 2016 campaign,Sanders frequently held big rallies with thousands of supporters, matching Trump’s ability to capture attention and generate large crowds.

Sanders was an outsider candidate three years ago. But with his massive political network, muscular fundraising capacity and resilient message, he is now a frontrunner. Sanders already has shown his fundraising ability this time around, as the campaign said on Tuesday he had raised about $10 million in the first week. But he also has faced new challenges – three of his top media strategists during the 2016 campaign split with Sanders this week over creative differences.

He promised that his campaign would say “loudly and clearly that the underlying principles of our government will not be greed, hatred and lies.”

On Sunday, Sanders heads to Selma, Alabama, to mark the anniversary of the 1965 clash known as “Bloody Sunday” and will also visit Chicago, where he graduated from college and was active in civil rights protests.

Over the next few weeks, his campaign said, Sanders will travel to states with early nominating contests, including Iowa, New Hampshire, South Carolina and Nevada before returning to his hometown of Burlington, Vermont, for a formal campaign launch.

(Source: Agencies)

3, March 2019

Barcelona defeats Real Madrid for 2nd time in four days ⁰

La liga leaders Barcelona, have registered another El Calsico victory, beating Real Madrid 1-0 at the Santiago Bernabeu.

Barcelona’s players celebrate their win at the end of the Spanish league football match between Real Madrid CF and FC Barcelona at the Santiago Bernabeu stadium in Madrid on March 2, 2019. (AFP)

The Catalan giants had humiliated Los Balncos 4 days ago at Bernabeu in the Copa del Ray semis, and were looking for another triumph at Real’s home turf on Saturday Night.

Ernesto Valverde’s men managed to break the dead-lock when Ivan Rakitic lifted the ball over the Real’s keeper, 26 minutes into the match.

The league leaders held-on to the advantage, and with the full 3-points, temporarily moved 10 points clear of 2nd placed Atletico Madrid at the La Liga summit.