Breaking News

3, April 2025

CEMAC introduces new coins, including a CFA200 piece ⁰

The Bank of Central African States (BEAC) has officially launched a new series of coins across the six countries of the Central African Economic and Monetary Community (CEMAC). The coins will start circulating on April 5 and will be used alongside the existing ones.

The introduction of the new coins follows a March 24 meeting of BEAC’s Monetary Policy Committee in Malabo, Equatorial Guinea. BEAC Governor Yvon Sana Bangui confirmed that distribution centers in all six member states had already been stocked in preparation for the rollout. The final step before their launch was an official presentation to CEMAC’s current chairman, Central African President Faustin Archange Touadéra, in Bangui on April 2.

A key addition to the new series is a CFA200 coin, which joins the existing CFA5, CFA10, CFA25, CFA50, CFA100, and CFA500 coins. BEAC has also modified the composition of the coins, using different metals and alloys to prevent smuggling.

“The metals and alloys we used will help stop the illegal export of coins, which has been a major issue in the region. In the past, the material used in our coins was worth more than the coins themselves, making them attractive for smuggling. We’ve addressed this problem and hope the new coins will be well received by the public,” said Governor Bangui.

The decision to introduce new coins was made on March 15, 2023, by the ministerial committee of the Central African Monetary Union (UMAC) at the request of BEAC’s board of directors. It follows the release of a new series of banknotes on December 15, 2022.

For years, CEMAC countries have faced a widespread coin shortage, partly due to an underground network smuggling them to an Asian country. Many of these coins were collected from gaming halls and informal trade circuits before being melted down for use in the jewelry industry. To combat this, BEAC redesigned the coins using materials that are no longer valuable for jewelry production, making them less attractive for smuggling.

Source: Business in Cameroon

1, April 2025

Niger’s junta withdraws from Lake Chad anti-Boko Haram force ⁰

Niger’s ruling junta has quit a regional force fighting armed Islamist groups in west Africa’s Lake Chad area, cementing an acrimonious split from former allies in the region.

The decision to exit the Multinational Joint Task Force (MNJTF) was announced in a bulletin on state television over the weekend. The move “reflects a stated intent to reinforce security for oil sites”, the bulletin stated, without providing further details.

The MNJTF was formed in 2015 by Cameroon, Chad, Niger and Nigeria in the wake of increasing jihadist attacks across their territories. At its peak, it had an estimated 10,000 troops and fought many armed groups, especially Boko Haram and its offshoots. But any serious progress has been hampered or even undone by poor collaboration and equipping, analysts say.

“The force was never that effective, said Ulf Laessing, the Bamako-based director of the Sahel programme at Konrad Adenauer Foundation, a German thinktank. Its decline, he added, was “good news for jihadists and it is bad news for villagers on the lake side, fishers or farmers who just want to go about their business but who will now get less military support”.

Niger’s exit from MNJTF came days after the junta’s leader, Abdourahmane Tiani, was sworn in as president until 2030 under a new charter that suspended the constitution and dissolved all political parties.

Niger has also isolated itself from the Economic Community of West African State (Ecowas), after Ecowas imposed a range of sanctions following the coup that ousted the democratically elected president, Mohamed Bazoum, in July 2023.

Within two months of the coup, it had joined the splinter Alliance of Sahel States (AES) along with Burkina Faso and Mali, where there have also been military takeovers since 2020.

Since then, AES has introduced new biometric passports to replace the old regional passports and on Monday, it announced a 0.5% levy on imported goods from Ecowas states.

Ikemesit Effiong, managing partner at Nigerian geopolitical risk advisory SBM Intelligence, said the levy put an end to “a long history of free trade across the western Sahel” and could change the dynamics of Ecowas’s negotiations with AES.

“When squared with Ecowas’s statement commitment to keep open trade and borders with AES states, I think this [levy] will force Ecowas to drop its kid gloves strategy and be more forceful with the AES,” Effiong said.

It remains unclear what impact Niger’s withdrawal from the MNJTF will have on a security agreement signed with neighbouring Nigeria last August. The countries share a border that spans 1,000 miles but Nigeria-led Ecowas’s push for a rapid return to democratic governance has caused friction between both countries.

Effiong said recent moves in the capital, Niamey, which has been seeking new military and economic partners since expelling French troops in 2023, are unsurprising.

“Niger has been pulling out of all its main regional bilateral and multilateral commitments, much of which it sees as western influenced or inspired,” said Effiong, who noted that MTNJTF had received military and intelligence aid from western partners in the past.

Source: The Guardian

31, March 2025

France: Marine Le Pen barred from running for public office for five years ⁰

France’s Marine Le Pen has been barred from running for office for five years after being found guilty of misappropriating European funds to finance her far-right National Rally (RN) party.

The momentous decision means Le Pen will likely not be able to stand in the 2027 French presidential election. It would have been her fourth attempt, and the one offering the greatest chance of victory.

Judges imposed immediate ineligibility with her conviction, meaning the ban on holding public office will now come into effect even if Le Pen appeals.

She has also been given a four-year prison sentence, of which two will be suspended. The other two can be spent with an electronic tag rather than in custody.

Le Pen has also been given a €100,000 (£82,635) fine.

She will very likely appeal the jail sentence, so it will not apply now.

At the start of the reading of the verdict, the judge, Bénédicte de Perthuis, said Le Pen had been at the “heart of the system” which saw the embezzlement of €2.9m worth of European funds.

Le Pen was accused, along with more than 20 other senior party figures, of hiring assistants who worked on her RN party affairs rather than for the European Parliament which paid them.

During the trial last year, Le Pen denied she had committed “the slightest irregularity”.

There has not yet been any comment from Le Pen, who left court before the sentence was issued alongside other defendants and headed to the RN’s Paris headquarters. She is expected to give an interview to French TV at 20:00 (19:00 BST).

At the weekend, Le Pen had told media that while she was “not nervous”, the judges had “the power of life or death over the [political] movement.”

Shortly before her sentencing, Le Pen received messages of support from the Kremlin, Hungary’s Viktor Orban and Italy’s Matteo Salvini.

“It is not just Marine Le Pen who has been unfairly sentenced: it’s French democracy that has been executed,” Jordan Bardella, the president of the RN, wrote on X.

But some of Le Pen’s opponents have also stated they disapprove of the judge’s decision.

“The choice to dismiss an elected official should only belong to the people,” said Jean-Luc Mélenchon of the far-left France Unbowed (LFI).

And Laurent Wauquiez, of the right-wing Republicans, said that the decision would “weigh very heavily on the functioning of our democracy”.

“It’s undoubtedly not the route that should have been taken.”

The reading of the verdict, which started shortly after 10:00 (09:00 BST), took nearly three hours.

Source: BBC

31, March 2025

Yaoundé: EYUMEMA welcomes Honorable Rose Abunaw ⁰

The Yaoundé chapter of EYUMEMA has welcome former deputy speaker of the National Assembly, Hon. Rose Abunaw into its fold in a major event held in the nation’s capital Yaoundé following her resignation from MOHWA for strictly personal reasons.

The event brought together many Manyu women and it was an opportunity for the women to display their unity of purpose and determination to bring development to a constituency that is begging for a facelift.

Speaking during the cross-over rituals, Hon. Rose Abunaw thrilled the sell-out crowd with a thought-provoking speech which reechoed the urgent need for unity and mutual respect deep within Manyu traditional establishments.

The Iron Lady sounded a note of caution to Manyu citizens all over the world and observed that something has to be done and done in a hurry geared towards empowering women in Manyu.

Honorable Rose Abunaw is a big catch for EYUMEMA and her fertile imagination and wisdom will be massive assets to the organization.

By Dr Joachim Arrey and Soter Agbaw-Ebai with files from Rita Akana in Yaounde

26, March 2025

Niger: military leader Tiani sworn in as president for five-year transition period ⁰

Niger’s leader, Abdourahamane Tiani, was on Wednesday sworn in as the country’s president for a transition period of five years under a new charter that replaces the West African nation’s constitution. The move effectively rebuffed attempts by regional bloc ECOWAS to quicken the return to democracy after a 2023 coup.

The five-year “flexible” transition period begins on Wednesday, according to Mahamane Roufai, the secretary general of the government. He was speaking at a ceremony in the capital Niamey where the new transition charter recommended by a recent national conference was approved.

Tiani, an army veteran, was also elevated to the country’s highest military rank of army general, cementing his grip on power since June 2023 when he led soldiers that deposed the country’s elected government.

The new president would have been in power for about seven years by the end of the transition period in 2030, following similar patterns of prolonged stints in power in Africa’s junta-led countries, including Mali, Guinea and Burkina Faso.

Niger’s junta had initially proposed a three-year transition period right after the coup, but that was rejected by West Africa’s regional bloc known as ECOWAS, which called it a provocation and threatened to intervene with the use of force.

Since then Niger has left the bloc alongside Mali and Burkina Faso, in protest of harsh sanctions which the bloc announced to force a return to democracy in Niger.

With ECOWAS exit, Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger leave democratic transition in limbo

Critics say Niger’s junta has clamped down on civil rights and struggled to end the jihadi violence that the military said inspired them to take power.

Source: AP

19, March 2025

MTN Cameroon’s revenue up 14.2% in 2024, driven by network services ⁰

MTN Cameroon continues its upward trend. For 2024, the parent company, MTN, reported a 14.2% increase in the branch’s operations, reaching CFA 366.6 billion, based on an average exchange rate of 33.13 CFA to the South African rand. In 2023, the Cameroonian branch had already posted a 9.2% growth compared to 2022. While the company did not fully explain its method for consolidating its subsidiary activities, it’s clear that fluctuations in the exchange rate between the CFA and the rand played a role in these results.

Despite challenges in other markets, such as a 14.9% decline in overall revenue due to the situation in Nigeria, Cameroon remains a key growth driver for MTN. The country showed the best performance in the West and Central Africa region.

The growth in Cameroon was mainly driven by network services, including calls and internet, which accounted for the largest share of revenue in 2024. However, the growth rate for this segment (11.3%) was lower than in 2023 (+25.8%). Digital and fintech services, such as credit loans and MoMo, saw the highest growth (+14.1%).

Thanks to these strong revenues, MTN’s earnings before tax, depreciation, and interest rose by 17.23%, reaching CFA 144.6 billion, compared to CFA 121.5 billion in 2023.

Looking ahead, 2025 will be crucial for MTN Cameroon. The company’s 4G license, granted in 2010, expires this year. Since 2021, MTN has been seeking approval from the Cameroonian authorities to operate a 5G network.

Source: Business in Cameroon

21, February 2025

Camtel deploys 75 engineers to boost service quality ⁰

Camtel, a state-run company, added 75 new tech hires this week, including computer integration specialists, software development engineers, and satellite solution specialists, in an effort to improve service delivery in the face of strong competition.

The new employees, who just completed a four-month intense in-house training at the National Emergency Telecommunications Network Centre in Ekounou-Yaounde, join the telco’s existing pool of 180 technicians dispersed across the country.

Judith Yah Sunday Achidi, Camtel’s general manager, remarked: “Camtel has the task to digitalise Cameroon’s economy and to do that, we need qualified human resources and that is what we have done with the recruitment of these young engineers’

“We have the conviction that we have recruited the best talents and from the interactions we have had with them for the past four months, we are very sure that they will play an essential role in our digital transformation drive.”

Camtel intends to use its expanded technical staff, as well as emerging technologies it has acquired, to combat recurring network failures.

Source: iTweb

5, February 2025

Martin Mbarga Nguele says new National ID system to be out soonest ⁰

Martin Mbarga Nguele, Delegate General for National Security (DGSN), announced late last week that Cameroon’s new secure identification system will launch “in the coming days,” starting with online pre-enrollment on February 17, 2025.

Speaking at a New Year’s greeting ceremony with his staff in Yaounde, Nguele said the rollout would follow “a progressive schedule.” Physical enrollments at identification offices in all regional capitals will begin on February 24, with national identity cards (CNIs) issued “within a maximum of 48 hours,” he assured, suggesting some applicants might receive them sooner.

This launch follows a setback in 2024. During last year’s ceremony, Nguele announced the new system, authorized by President Paul Biya, would be operational that year. However, it did not materialize, with no official explanation given.

The new system aims to address chronic delays and shortages in CNI issuance. The official timeframe is three months, but some Cameroonians have waited one to four years. Many hold temporary receipts, repeatedly extended. Nguele said processing and production of CNIs in the new format are underway for those with receipts under the old system, provided their records are in order. They should receive their cards by Feb. 17, 2026.

The government contracted the German-Portuguese consortium INCM-Augentic to produce CNIs within 24 hours. An agreement, signed on May 13, 2024, in Yaounde between the DGSN and the consortium, covers financing, concession, development, deployment, and operation of the new system. Fully funded by Augentic, the project includes constructing 68 ultra-modern multifunctional centers across Cameroon’s 10 regions and 58 departments, and renovating 219 existing identification offices.

Nguele also addressed multiple identity problems. On Jan. 10, he launched an operation to resolve these issues, particularly for those with dual identities or lineage discrepancies, inviting affected citizens to submit requests to regional National Security Department delegations. He specified that double identity or fraud cases are handled at the DGSN’s regional delegations and processed by an interministerial committee. Once records are regularized, these citizens can enroll in the new system starting Feb. 17 to receive their CNI in the new format, based on a consolidated identity record.

Source: Sbbc

30, January 2025

Minister Laurent Esso humiliated before medical evacuation to India ⁰

According to Cameroon Intelligence Report correspondent in Yaoundé who observed the drama that unfolded before the evacuation of the Minister of Justice and Keeper of the Seals, Laurent Esso was depressed at the shabby treatment meted on him and virtually broke down at the Nsimalen International airport.

Esso’s prolonged evacuation to India for medical treatment was a saga of humiliation during which a low-ranking police officer reportedly carried him on his back into the plane and he was jeered by some airport workers, according to CIR’s Rita Akana, who watched the Justice Minister as he arrived the airport from his Yaoundé residence.

Giving a detailed account of Laurent Esso’s journey from Yaoundé to India, Rita Akana said that the Justice Minister was treated with total contempt at the Nsimalen International airport.

Minister Esso was rushed into the airport in an old ambulance and shifted to the plane on a police officer’s back. As the officer started running towards the plane, security agents at the airport started laughing and making a mockery of him.

Laurent Esso has always been very confident that he has the support of the docile Sawa people and that of President Paul Biya; however, he suffered the biggest humiliation of his life when an airport official told him in the presence of his wife that he could only hang on an officer’s back to get into the plane.

His wife could not hold back her tears when she saw her husband being humiliated by state security agents. She was heard murmuring privately in a passionate voice “ooh le Cameroun! Oh mon pays”. But her emotional cry fell on deaf ears.

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai with files

30, January 2025

Yaoundé: New MTN Cameroon CEO meets industry leaders ⁰

Wanda Matandela, MTN Cameroon’s new CEO, began his first visit to the West African country this week, joined by a delegation led by outgoing CEO Mitwa Kaemba Ng’ambi.

During this introductory tour, the MTN Cameroon delegation engaged with esteemed government officials including Prime Minister Joseph Dion Ngute, technical advisor of Cameroon, Jean-Claude Ayem Mauger.

The group also met with the minister of Posts and Telecommunications, Minette LIBOM LI LIKENG, director general of the Telecommunications Regulatory Board, and Professor Philemeon Zoo Zame, director general of the National Agency for Information and Communication Technologies.

The meetings gave Ng’ambi the opportunity to formally introduce her successor to senior executives and say goodbye.

Ng’ambi will begin her new post as CEO of MTN Côte d’Ivoire on March 1, 2025, the same day Matandela takes over as CEO of MTN Cameroon.

Matandela was MTN SA’s Chief Commercial Operations Officer until his current appointment.

He is a seasoned business executive with extensive expertise in ICT, financial services, and entertainment industries.

The telco executive has a BCom Accounting degree, a Masters in Information Systems from Wits, an MBA from Stellenbosch, and a Certificate in Leadership from IMD, Switzerland.

Source: iTweb Africa