Flames razed down the Mamfe Main Market last night in an attack which the local residents say was staged by Francophone security forces stationed in the town.

We gathered that electronic shops, barber shops, groceries and butcheries were burned down in the inferno. Although the cause of the fire is not known, traders have added their voices to those who claim the fire was manmade and a deliberate action to stifle the Manyu economy.

Cameroon Concord News contacted the Mamfe police commissioner who hinted that authorities have opened an investigation to determine the cause of the fire in the market where traders lost property worth millions of Francs CFA.

An aide to the mayor of Mamfe told Camcordnews that “We cannot establish the exact value of property burnt down but the traders have lost goods worth millions.”

The fire which began around 12:00 midnight affected over 100 business persons. Some traders have reportedly blamed the security forces who have been deployed to the town center for not responding quickly to the emergency.

By Peter Ndip in Mamfe

The Minister of Transport, Edgard Alain Mebe Ngo’o has authorized the General Express Voyage interurban transport bus company to resume its activities. The information is contained in a press release made public on Monday, 27th November 2017. According to the document, the three months suspension of transport activities imposed on the company following a ghastly accident on October 25th 2017 has been exceptionally reduced to one month.

The reason for the reduction of the administrative sanction as justified by the document is that fact that the Ministry of Transport is satisfied with corrective measures taken by General Express Voyage following a general audit carried out in the various terminals of the company that revealed several short comings.

The release indicated that the company acknowledged the existence of deficiencies and immediately proceeded with corrective measures as prescribed by the Ministry of Transport. The promptitude and compliance lead to the reduction of the sanction.

As the interurban transport company resumes, business as usual, the Minister of Transport has warned its officials to be more rigorous and vigilant in the management of their activities. He insisted that all transporters of good and persons should strictly respect traffic regulations.

Government’s commitment to tirelessly fight against road insecurity was reiterated with a call for civic behaviour and high sense of responsibility of all road users to sustainably curb road accidents in Cameroon.

Minister Edgard Alain Mebe Ngo’o lauded the spirit of dialogue and franks collaboration that prevails between the Administration and professionals of the transport sector. The lifting of the ban comes at the eve of the end of year festive season marked by massive movement of people between regions which is one of the biggest business seasons for interurban transport companies.

Source: CRTV

Hotels and restaurants in the Fako State that are usually sold-out during this festive period are barely running at 1% since the beginning of the Southern Cameroons crisis.

The French Cameroun Ministry of Tourism recently reported that the tourism sector in the Fako constituency has lost 15 Billion CFA francs due to the socio-political crisis.

This is explained by the fact that tourism structures like hotels and restaurants are experiencing a drastic drop in patronage. Typically, more than 300,000 tourists visit Fako annually. But with the crisis, the figure has barely reached 2,000.

The situation is true for the entire Southern Cameroons tourism industry with employers forced to put their staff on technical leave.

By Fru James, CCN

During a forum that was boycotted by the Heads of State of Gabon and Congo-Brazaville recently in Chad, the CEMAC zone leaders decided that Douala, the economic metropolis of Cameroon will now host the headquarters of the regional stock exchange of the Central African Economic and Monetary Community (CEMAC).

This is one of the main decisions taken by the heads of state of the subregion, gathered at N’Djamena in Chad at the recent extraordinary summit of CEMAC.

“Considering the issue of the merger of regional and national value exchanges, the conference decided to set the headquarters of the regional financial market regulator in Libreville and that of the regional stock exchange in douala,” read the final statement.

The Conference of Heads of State designated the Bank of Central African States (BEAC) as Central Depository.

In addition, the heads of state decided to unlock 1.7 billion CFA francs. This money will finance a police force to monitor the borders follwoing the lifting of all border checks for all citizens of the 6 countries.

By Chi Prudence Asong, CCN

The General Express travelling agency suspended for three months is now attempting to change its name.The intercity travel agency was suspended by the Minister of Transport, Edgar Alain Mebe Ngo’o, following a traffic accident on the 23^rd of October 2017 on the Yaoundé-Douala Highway that claimed the lives of 15 people and injured several others.

Barely some few days after the decision to ban the company was made public, images have emerged from the Douala bureau of two workers, one of whom is on a General Express bus, posting a new inscription “Defotso”.

Observers have concluded that the management of General Express have decided to rename their agency- a common practice among travel agencies suspended by the Francophone dominated government.

By Sonne Peter with files from Cameroon Info.Net

Latest performance figures show that Dangote Cement continues to maintain its large share of Nigeria’s domestic cement market, accounting for 65 percent of the Nigerian market volume, while other African plants’ volumes went up by 7.5 percent to 7.0 mta.

These results are coming as the company’s board announced changes to the leadership of the company, with Onne Van der Weijde stepping down as Chief Executive Officer at the end of 2017, having completed three years in this position.

He would be returning to his home country, The Netherlands. Van der Weijde will be appointed as a Non-Executive Director of Dangote Cement PLC, with effect from 1st January 2018.

In the meantime, Engr. Joseph Makoju, Honorary Adviser to the Chairman and former MD of WAPCO/Lafarge, will be acting MD/CEO of Dangote Cement PLC. The Cement company which had in the past months expanded its operations across Africa, the latest being the coming on stream of the 1.5 mta integrated cement plant in Mfila, Republic of Congo, posted some growth figures.

According to the unaudited results for the nine months ended September 30, 2017, the Mfila plant which began operations last month has almost doubled the size of the cement sector in the country. The Congo plant brings to 10 the number of Dangote Cement plants across Africa.

Further analysis of the results indicated that the company recorded strong volumes in Senegal, Ethiopia and Cameroon. In the nine months under review, the 1.5 mta clinker grinding facility in Douala, Cameroon sold approximately 938 kt of cement, indicating an increase of 16.4 percent on the 806 kt sold during the same period in 2016.

Dangote Cement Ethiopia increased sales by 16.8 percent to nearly 1.7 mta in the first nine months of 2017 representing capacity utilization of approximately 88 percent. The cement plant in Pout, Senegal sold 1.0 mta of cement in the period under review, up by 21.7 percent on the comparable period of 2016. This represents almost 89 percent capacity utilization at the factory.

Van der Weijde, speaking on the results, said, “Our Pan-African operations are performing strongly with excellent sales growth in Cameroon, Ethiopia and Senegal. We are consolidating our success across Africa and have just commissioned our 1.5Mta factory in Congo, the tenth country in which we have established operations.”

“In our key operations in Nigeria we have significantly improved our fuel mix and this has helped increase margins across the Group. It is especially good for Nigeria because most of the coal we are using is mined in our own country”.

Source: Ripples Nigeria

The Francophone governor of the Buea Province of Southern Cameroons, Bernard Okalia Bilai, signed a second order yesterday in connection with the Southern Camerons crisis. This so-called decree prohibits “all entry and exit” in the Region. Beyond the fact that this part of Ambazonia is thus cut off from the entire Southern Cameroons and neigbouring La Republique du Cameroun , the Buea Province still has a strong military presence with French Cameroun soldiers parading the streets.

On Monday, October 2, 2017 in the early hours, elements of the police and the gendarmerie, those of the army and the Rapid Intervention Battalion (BIR) were already posted in the streets and main round abouts. Identity checks have also been erected and in a systematic way that all those who are not in possession of their national identity cards (CNI) are questioned.

As of September 28, 2017, in order to maintain French Cameroun dominance of the territory in his command, the Governor signed a first order that prohibited any movement in the Region. This order  was to stifle the October 1 celebrations that were held successfully throughout Southern Cameroons.

Two days after October 1, the signs of the Southern Cameroons independence day celebrations remain very visible. In Molyko- Buea, for example, one can still see enormous rocks and piles of shards of bottles lying on the roadway.

By Rita Akana, CCN

“Ecobank Xpress Cash” is the new money withdrawal option put in place by Ecobank. With this operation, customers of the Pan-African bank can now make withdrawals without a card. According to Ecobank, the option is a question of boosting through digital channels financial inclusion, currently estimated in the country to 20%, out of a population of more than 20 million people.

“The digital strategy in question directly favors one of the main factors of development of our economies, namely the financial and economic inclusion of the populations. Ecobank will thus be able to reach and serve more customers in Cameroon, including those who are unbanked, “the bank said.

It is vital to include in this report that in May 2017 Ecobank indicated its intention to capitalize on digital services. The bank launched “Ecobank Mobile App”, that helped individuals and companies to use bar codes for payments and banking partnership with third parties. With “Ecobank Xpress Cash”, the Pan-African bank is the only one among the fifteen commercial banks to offer this type of service in Cameroon.

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai with files from CIN

The Francophone surrogate, Vincent Ndumu Nji has carried out his threats in the Bamenda County by closing shops at the Nkwen market . The corrupt so-called government delegate was quoted by a French newspaper as saying that “The fact that their shops have been sealed is an unexpected setback. The message from the government delegate was not seen as an injunction. So, these traders find themselves caught between two fires. ”

On Monday, August 28, 2017, traders in the Bamenda County in Southern Cameroons kept their shops closed, despite the opening of the main gates by council workers. The merchants respected the calls for the on going civil disobedience campaign in Southern Cameroons and stayed at home.

Cameroon Concord News gathered that the said Ndumu Vincent is now asking the traders to pay the sum of five hundred thousands francs CFA for the council to reopen their shops. One of the traders contacted by CAMCORDNEWS at Nkwen observed that half a million CFA is far above the value of his business center and that the Biya regime is greatly energising the Southern Cameroons revolution and depriving itself from revenue that it badly needs from the Southern Cameroons business community.

Since Tuesday, 29 August, messages of indignation were circulated on social networks. Both sides questioned the attitude to be adopted. For, on the one hand, the ghost towns have been intensified and on the other, the French Cameroun administrative authorities are asking Southern Cameroonians not to respect the Southern Cameroons Governing Council and the Cameroon Anglophone Civil Society Consortium by promising security guarantees.

It should be remembered that at the beginning of the revolution, some traders had attempted to ignore the instructions given by the Consortium which required the closure of all shops. Considered as offenders, these traders were ruthlessly crushed and severely dealt with.

By Eyong Johnson
Cameroon Concord News

The Ministry of Post and Telecommunications in French Cameroun has launched a communication campaign on telephone number portability. Telephone number portability is a system which enables telephone users to switch from one mobile operator to another while maintaining the same phone number.

The Francophone female minister noted that during a month long campaign, the public will be sensitized on how to take advantage of the new system which provides consumers the option to choose the service provider with the best options. This implies that if the consumer changes his service provider, the new service provider needs to incorporate the former number into the new sim card he offers.

The Ministry of Post and Telecommunication affirms that the service is free. It was also revealed that the operation is possible just twice a year and only within a space of at least two months after the first switch.

Apart from helping the consumer maintain the same number, number portability also enables the consumer benefit from advantageous tariffs offered by competing mobile operators. In a nutshell, number portability enhances healthy competition amongst the telephone service providers in Cameroon.

Source: CRTV