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19, September 2016

2016 AFCON: Cameroon only knows how to party ⁰

Cameroon announced to the world that she was indeed “Africa in miniature” at the draw for the 2016 Africa Women Cup of Nations on the 18th of September 2016. During the ceremony at the Multipurpose Sports Complex in Yaounde, the rich heritage was displayed through traditional dances from the four cultural zones of Cameroon: the Fang Beti, Sahel, Sawa and Grassfield. Each individual in the hall cited with one of the cultural zones.

The climax of the event came when the representatives from other African countries were able to identify a Cameroonian dance similar to theirs. Apart from representing Cameroon, the dance groups went the extra mile to present the traditional dances of the seven other countries participating in 2016 AFCON.

It was a total blend of colour and culture as flags were waved during the performances as an expression of joy, communicating Cameroon’s readiness to host the 2016 AFCON. A projection of some remarkable parts of Cameroon was made available to help the visitors catch a glimpse of what Cameroon is like while saying a warm Cameroonian, “Welcome/Bienvenue”!

CRTV

19, September 2016

Female Africa Cup of Nations: Cameroon to clash with Egypt on November the 19th ⁰

The draw for the tenth edition of the women’s football African Cup of Nations taking place from the 19 of November to the 3^rd of December 2016, was held on Sunday in Yaounde. 8 teams will take part in this competition. They are:

Group A

Cameroon

Egypt

South Africa

Zimbabwe

Group B

Nigeria

Mali

Ghana

Kenya

Pool A will evolve in Yaounde and Group B teams will compete in Limbe. The opening match will pit Cameroon against Egypt on November the 19, 2016 at the Yaounde Omnisport stadium. The anthem and mascot of the tournament were presented to the public.

By Ebong Kingsley

18, September 2016

President Obama calls on African-Americans to rally around Hillary Clinton ⁰

US President Barack Obama has called on the African-American community to rally around Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton in an effort to defeat Republican candidate Donald Trump in the November election.

Obama, America’s first black president, made the call in an emotional speech at the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation gala on Saturday night in Washington. Clinton also attended event. “If I hear anybody saying their vote does not matter, that it doesn’t matter who we elect — read up on your history. It matters. We’ve got to get people to vote,” Obama said.

“We have achieved historic turnout in 2008 and 2012, especially in the African-American community. I will consider it a personal insult and an insult to my legacy if this community lets down its guard and fails to activate itself in this election,” he said. “You want to give me a good send-off? Go vote.”

According to exit polls, record numbers of black voters casted their ballots in 2012, and 93 percent of them backed Obama over Republican candidate Mitt Romney. A recent survey conducted by the Washington Post showed Clinton having an 80-point lead over Trump among black voters.

“If you care about our legacy, realize everything we stand for is at stake. All the progress we’ve made is at stake in this election,” he said. “My name may not be on the ballot, but our progress is on the ballot. Tolerance is on the ballot. Democracy is on the ballot. Justice is on the ballot. Good schools are on the ballot. Ending mass incarceration, that’s on the ballot right now,” he said.

US Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton waves as she accepts a Phoenix Award from Representative Jim Clyburn (D-SC) during the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation’s Phoenix Awards Dinner on September 17, 2016 in Washington, DC. (AFP photo)

Last month, Trump asked African-American voters to vote for him since they “have nothing to lose.” Trump talked about disproportionate levels of poverty, unemployment and failing schools for the black community in the United States and claimed he would make a better future for them if he won the White House.

“You’re living in poverty, your schools are no good, you have no jobs, 58% of your youth is unemployed — what the hell do you have to lose?” Trump asked the audience.

In his speech on Saturday night, Obama said Trump says “we got nothing left to lose, so we might as well support somebody who has fought against civil rights, and fought against equality, and who has shown no regard for working people for most of his life. Well, we do have challenges, but we’re not stupid.”

Presstv

18, September 2016

Cameroon: Bikutsi singer Roger Bekono is no more!! ⁰

Cameroonian bikutsi singer, Roger Bekono has passed away age 62. Roger Bekono died on Thursday in Yaounde following a long illness. The news was made public through a joint statement issued by his relative, Ottou Marcellin and his daughter Marie-Christine. The author of the greatest hit Jolie Poupee was reportedly sick for more than six years. He spent the last two weeks in a hospital in Mfou and finally left for the land of his ancestors on Thursday.

Born in 1954, Roger Bekono emerged in the 80s as a renowned bikutsi singer and went ahead and recorded 33 hit singles including “Jolie poupee”, “Etam”, “Enying Moni”, “Ye wo kombel” and also “Oget Mongi”. He worked with the likes of the great Zanzibar, Jean Marie Ahanda, Atebas, “Big” Ngole Pokossy and Mystic Jim.

18, September 2016

Bangui: Militant raid leaves 26 villagers dead in the worst instance of bloodshed in recent months ⁰

A militant raid on a village in the Central African Republic (CAR) has left 26 villagers dead in the worst instance of bloodshed in recent months, an official says. Militants from the Seleka group attacked the village of Ndomete, near the town of Kaga-Bandoro, about 350 km (220 miles) north of the capital, Bangui, on Friday. Reports of the attack, however, emerged on Saturday.

“There were 26 victims… the village chief was among the victims,” Albert Mokpeme, a spokesman for the presidency, said on Saturday. “It was a massacre,” he emphasized. Officials are concerned that the incident could revitalize the dormant acts of vendetta between the mainly Muslim Seleka militants and rival Christian anti-Balaka militias. In early 2013, Seleka toppled the then-President Francois Bozize, who was replaced by Michel Am-Nondokro Djotodia, the first Muslim to hold the presidency in the CAR.

Christian militias reacted by engaging in large-scale attacks against the minority Muslims. A fifth of the population was forced to flee to safer regions as the impoverished nation was plunged into violence along ethnic and religious fault lines. Thousands of people were killed and hundreds of thousands displaced in the resource-rich country, as it suffered its biggest crisis in its half-century of independence during the period of violence in 2013 and 2014.

This file photo, taken on January 2, 2016, shows United Nations peacekeepers patrolling outside a vote-counting center for the presidential and parliamentary elections in Bangui. (By AFP)

In 2014, some 11,000 peacekeepers were deployed by the United Nations (UN) to the country as part of the established United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in the Central African Republic (MINUSCA).

“MINUSCA regrets the loss of human life and the wounded that were recorded and also denounces attacks against the humanitarian community and United Nations personnel,” the UN said following the Friday bloodshed.

On July 23, 2014, Seleka and anti-Balaka representatives signed a ceasefire agreement in the Congolese capital, Brazzaville, but the country has not yet emerged from its bloody past.

Presstv

17, September 2016

Yaounde: CEDIC stands shoulder-to-shoulder with orphans ⁰

CEDIC an association grouping the wives of Cameroonian diplomats have organized a one day handicraft exhibition in Yaounde. The event was to show case their solidarity principally destined to orphans and the less privilege. The women displayed natural beverages products, pastries and cosmetics to the watchful eyes of their husbands, children, well-wishers and above all some state dignitaries.

The Secretary General at the Ministry of External Relations, Felix Mbayu praised the spirit of entrepreneurship in the women saying that it was necessary to foster development and unity. The president of the association, Micheline Atanga used the event to encourage the wives of diplomats both at home and abroad to step up the spirit of entrepreneurship. She also expressed the need to attract new members into the club so to register a sporadic growth. The Honorary President of CEDIC, Mageret Mbella Mbella was also present to cheer the women’s initiative.

CRTV

17, September 2016

Ouagadougou: Former Burkinabe Prime Minister arrested ⁰

Former Burkinabe Prime Minister, Luc-Adolphe Tiao was arrested on Friday and detained at a prison in Ouagadougou. Luc-Adolphe Tiao who served as the last Prime Minister to ousted dictator, Blaise Compaore is accused of having signed a requisition order, authorizing the use of weapons during the repression of the popular uprising of the 30th and 31^st of October 2014.

Mr. Tiao returned to Burkina Faso after more than a year in exile in the Ivory Coast and was arrested after a very intensive interrogation by the gendarmerie in Ouagadougou. He is accused, along with all the 32 ministers of the last Compaore government of assault, murder and complicity following attempts by the Cabinet via a bill to amend the Constitution which would have allowed Blaise Compaore, to stay in power.

Ten other former cabinet ministers of the ancien regime have already been questioned by the police, but all went Scot-free after their hearings.

By Chi Prudence Asong

17, September 2016

Trump admits President Obama was born American citizen ⁰

US Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump has finally acknowledged that President Barack Obama was born in the United States, as he sought to end his longstanding attempt to discredit the nation’s first African-American president.

“President Barack Obama was born in the United States, period,” Trump said on Friday at a campaign event in Washington, DC. Trump also falsely accused his Democratic rival Hillary Clinton of starting the so-called birther controversy in 2008. There is no evidence to link Clinton to the birthers. “Hillary Clinton and her campaign of 2008 started the birther controversy. I finished it. I finished it,” Trump said.

Trump did not apologize to Obama for his leading role in the birther movement and didn’t explain what caused him to change his view. The celebrity businessman has sought to improve his negative image among minority voters and moderate Republicans in recent months, many of whom see birtherism as racially motivated and an insult to Obama.

Analysts say that although the birther issue has not been a major one in this campaign, it continues to irritate black voters, who see it as an attempt to challenge the legitimacy of the country’s first African American president.

In a speech in Washington just ahead of Trump’s, Clinton said Trump had led the birther movement for five years and had founded his campaign on “this outrageous lie”. “There is no erasing it,” she said. “Imagine a person in the Oval Office who traffics in conspiracy theories – who distorts the truth to fit a very narrow view of the world,” she added.

Some reports suggest the birther issue was circulated in 2008 by loyal supporters of Clinton as it became clear that she was not going to win the Democratic nomination against Obama. However there is no evidence that Clinton or her then campaign was directly linked to it.

According to a Reuters/Ipsos poll released on Friday, Clinton held a 4-point lead over the New York businessman, 42 percent to 38 percent. However, one out of every five likely voters said they do not support Clinton or Trump for president, the poll found.

Presstv

17, September 2016

Biya deified in Kribi ⁰

In Cameroon, whenever a man or woman is appointed to any senior management position, a grandiose celebration follows showing widespread gratitude to the Head of State through numerous motions of support. This was the situation on Friday September 16, 2016 in Kribi in the Ocean Division in the South Region.

Militants of the ruling CPDM party had been summoned to deify President Paul Biya on the appointments of Charles Ndongo as general manager of the state owned radio and television and Patrice Melom as the CEO of the Autonomous Port of Kribi. The ruling elite, mobilized militants of the ruling party and some citizens of the South region, to say “Thank you” to the head of state, for the appointment of their “sons”.

By Rita Akana

16, September 2016

President Biya en route to New York ⁰

The Head of State, Paul Biya and First Lady, Chantal Biya have left the country for New York in the United States to attend the 71st regular session of the UN General Assembly. The solemn opening of the 71st session was held on Tuesday, September 13, 2016.

The UN General Assembly offers every year to the member states the opportunity to express their views on major international issues.

The theme of the general debate of the 71st session will be sustainable development goals: universal force of transformation of the world, as proposed by the new President of the Assembly, Peter Thomson (Fiji), after his election 13 June 2016.

By Rita Akana