Editorial

27, May 2023

How abductions finance separatists in Southern Cameroons ⁰

Abductions are a new fundraising method used by separatists, analysts say. More than 30 women were taken last week for “allowing themselves to be manipulated by Cameroon’s government,” according to the insurgents.

The latest abduction of over 30 women by separatists has caused uproar across Cameroon.

According to reports, they were forcibly taken from the village of Big Babanki, located about 25 kilometers (15 miles) west of Bamenda in the northwest of the country. Some were said to have been “severely tortured.”

The separatist gangs responsible for these kinds of abductions are all part of a moblike structure running the region, where insurgents are waging attacks against the government: They impose illegal taxes on locals, which they collect monthly from women, men and even children.

They also demand taxes from unmarried couples, and even force families to pay the equivalent of about €1,000 ($1,070) to bury their deceased relatives.

But dissent against the dissidents is growing: Ordinary citizens and civil society groups in Cameroon have expressed anger over the arbitrary way that separatists choose to run the region.

When residents refuse to be silenced, their leaders opt for violence, as was the case with the latest abductions: The women had reportedly refused to pay the illegal taxes imposed by the separatists and rejected a curfew imposed on them.

During the attack on the villagers, several of the women were reportedly injured; there were reports of violence and torture against them. Relatives of those who were abducted said they were anxious about their return.

Silencing women activists – for a reason

Ngongba Assumpta Lum, the founder of the Centre for Advocacy in Gender Equality and Action for Development, told DW that the kidnappings were deliberately aimed at trying to silence women in particular, as they are the ones who usually play a crucial role in crisis resolution in traditional and tribal societies in Cameroon.

“The kidnapping of these women in Babanki is a serious blow to us as civil society actors, especially as women-led organizations, peace advocates and organizations fighting for peace to return to the regions,” she said, adding that she feared that this surge in abductions over the past five years would yet get worse.

“I think as mothers, we are greatly touched because this situation is going overboard,” Lum added.

No trust in the government

Cameroon’s government said on Wednesday that a special military operation to rescue the women was underway. However, locals aren’t confident of a success, as it is the same government that these separatists are fighting.

Some of them had said the women were abducted for “allowing themselves to be manipulated by Cameroon’s government.”

But Sally Mbumien, a community leader in Bamenda, believes the actions of the fighters are an attempt to erode the power of women in Cameroon: “Not only is this politicizing our traditional institutions of women’s power, it is also an insult to womanhood, to motherhood and also it sets the wrong precedence,” he told DW, adding that this was “the worst thing that can happen.”

Yvonne Muma, a resident of Bamenda, said she felt angered by the kidnappings, telling DW that the abduction was tantamount to a sacrilege: “These boys have just raised the wrath of God by touching our mothers. They will have no peace until they confess,” Muma said.

Kidnappings: a new way of financing separatism

Cameroon has been plagued by fighting since English-speaking separatists launched a rebellion against the government in 2017. The dissidents say they want the region to secede from the area dominated by the French-speaking majority, and creating an independent, English-speaking state.

But the conflict has claimed more than 6,000 lives to date and has forced more than 1 million people to flee their homes.

With insurgents running out of funds to continue with their campaign — even despite collecting illegal taxes — analysts believe that resorting to abductions appears to be an attractive way to finance their operations.

“Now we have cases of mass kidnappings. Initially, there would be one or two individuals being kidnapped and ransom being asked,” human rights lawyer Agbor Balla told DW, adding that the number of abductions is skyrocketing.

According to Balla, tighter government controls on money laundering and the flow of illicitly obtained money have crippled the activities of the separatists.

“As government tightens financial flows, separatist leaders and sympathizers abroad … it becomes difficult to get the necessary financial support to fund” their activities, he said, adding that endeavors in certain Western countries in the fight against terrorism and its funding had also helped bleed the pockets of separatists dry.

Few rogue elements ‘abducting’ anglophone cause

Meanwhile, the concerns expressed by such separatist groups are regarded as valid: They allege that Anglophone speakers suffer political marginalization in Cameroon and lack the recognition of their cultural identity.

However, the more violent their methods become, the less sympathy they are likely to garner from outside observers — and perhaps also from their own people, even if these kidnappings and other violent acts are only carried out by a few rogue figures in their midst.

Balla said their campaign against the government is also plagued by infighting and fragmentation, making it difficult for separatists to show an organized, united front, which he argues is exactly what allows fringe elements to resort to kidnapping and abusing civilians.

“Because there is no central command and control, most of the leaders of the fighters on the ground are just made of a few persons or groups, and they need to fund their own struggles in their own communities,” he said.

With citizens in the separatist-held regions losing faith in the leadership of the fighters and refusing to pay their bogus taxes that help fund their operations, analysts like Balla fear the number of abductions could surge drastically in the coming months.

Culled from DW

26, May 2023

Cameroon’s Higher Education Ministry: Prof. Fame Ndongo on a ‘sex diet’ ⁰

The Higher Education Ministry has been hit by many scandals over the last decades but none has been as big as the one that might take down the country’s higher education minister, Jacques Fame Ndongo, who is being described by his collaborators as a ‘man on a diet of sex.’

The minister’s office has become the theatre of multiple sex sessions designed to satisfy Mr. Ndongo’s out-of-control libido.

Mr. Ndongo seems to be shooting pornographic movies in his office as he has transformed his office into his own Hollywood.

Young girls, some as young as 21, are permanently streaming to Prof. Fame Ndongo‘s office and the soundtracks emanating from that office shortly after those girls walk into that “Hollywood studio” are always unsettling to the minister’s collaborators who simply want to do their job and head home to their wives and children.

Prof. Fame Ndongo’s sexual misconduct has reduced the higher education ministry into a playground for people to whom sex is medicine.

Some of the minister’s closest collaborators, most of whom are women, have been bedded by the satyr who passes off as a minister.

Some of these women are today senior officials of the ministry and since they are out of favor with the minister due to their ages, they no longer feel valued and are doing their best to sabotage the minister’s work.

According to an official of the Higher Education Ministry who spoke to the Cameroon Concord News correspondent in Yaoundé, Rita Akana, on condition of anonymity, said that some of the disgruntled women who have lost their shine and charm of yesteryears even challenge the minister to the face, causing him to lose authority among his staff.

The source, a man who will soon be retiring and is terribly bitter about the way his career has gone, is now singing like a canary and he is very willing to lay bare everything happening in a ministry which, in his opinion, has been terribly mismanaged by Prof. Ndongo who has run the ministry for close to 20 years.

“How did the Cameroon Concord News Group expect Prof. Jacques Fame Ndongo to punish sex criminals like Profs. Molua and Agborbechem who had transformed the University of Buea into their own harem?”

“Prof. Jacques Fame Ndongo and his protégés – Molua and Agborbechem – are birds of a feather and that was why they were moved out of Buea to escape the media’s scrutiny because of their sexual misconduct,” the source said angrily.

“Today Prof. Molua has reconstituted his harem in the University of Douala and he is plying his trade with ease. However, the Bassas are already tired of his abuse of women and they are hatching a plan to take him down once and for all. For his part, Agborbechem has continued with his bad sex habits in Bamenda and the noise coming out of there is not pleasant. Agborbechem‘s life is at risk and if he does not control his libido, Amba fighters will chop off his penis one of these days. I pray he takes this warning seriously,” our source said.

Prof. Fame Ndongo has made a mess of the Ministry of Higher Education. It is alleged that he has impregnated several married women and the women fear that their husbands might notice the resemblance of their children with the infamous minister of higher education who consumes sex for breakfast, lunch and dinner.

To finance his irresponsible behavior, Prof. Fame Ndongo has set up an elaborate scheme within his ministry which puts huge amounts of money in his pocket on a daily basis.

He is now using the creation of tertiary institutions in the country which issue HND certificates as a medium of enriching himself.

He has sidelined the government established commission designed to verify if the proprietors of such schools have the proper infrastructure to run an effective school and is now using emergency methods for those schools to be established without proper facilities.

These schools are now cropping up across the country and his emergency procedure nets him CFAF 3,000,000 per school and the person fronting him is a former driver of his who is supposed to be on retirement but he is always and religiously in the ministry for reasons only known by the minister.

The Cameroon Concord News has already sent a letter to the Presidency for Professor Ndongo to be investigated and another letter will be sent to the Prime Minister to ensure that the monster running the higher education ministry does not ruin the place before he leaves, as it is rumored that he will not be part of the next government.

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai

Editor-in-chief, Cameroon Concord News Group

20, May 2023

Southern Cameroons Crisis: Ferdinand Ngoh Ngoh’s war cabinet in self-destruct mode ⁰

The recent announcement by the attention-seeking Fai Yengo Francis that 18 Ambazonia fighters have surrender to Cameroon government forces not only failed to advance the sinister goals of the Biya French Cameroun regime in Yaoundé but laid bare deep divisions and dissensions in the entire Biya cabinet.

It was evident when Etoudi ordered the arrest of its spy chief Léopold Maxime Eko Eko over the Martinez Zogo affair prompting some of Eko Eko’s acolytes to abruptly abandoned the Ferdinand Ngoh Ngoh’s camp.

Unfortunately, anti Southern Cameroons work within the Minister Ngoh Ngoh camp is not progressing well due to much pressure from very inexperienced cabinet ministers trying to impose their views on military affairs.

Mindful of the numerous unannounced and unceremonious departures from the Ferdinand Ngoh Ngoh camp, disputes within this so-called “Chantal Biya Men” have reached worrying levels. Threatening messages and death threats are being exchanged between different factions deep within the Biya cabinet.

Harassment has not been limited to individuals around the 90-year-old President Biya. Those already detained at the Kondengui Maximum Security Prison in Yaoundé are also receiving threats if they dare make any startling revelations. Ngoh Ngoh is reportedly the principal architect behind the threats and many within the security apparatus of the state have hinted this reporter that the Ngoh Ngoh’s primitive and cheap design is simply to gain notoriety.

It is precisely this battle to succeed President Biya within the French backed Biya Francophone Beti Ewondo regime that would justify Governor Fai Yengo Francis recent anti Southern Cameroons announcement. Unity among the Ferdinand Ngoh Ngoh gang has not been possible mainly because his supporters have attacked other members of the Biya entourage, stating that Ngoh Ngoh should be recognized as the only possible Biya replacement given his special relationship with the Biya family.

Political analysts opine that another internal CPDM conflict that has erected a stone wall against the Southern Cameroons peace process is the confrontation between some Francophone nationalists headed by Ngoh Ngoh and the pro decentralization plans promoted by the former spy chief Léopold Maxime Eko Eko.

It seems there are several political visions within what is being dubbed as the race to succeed President Biya. It is true we can find notable differences in the political views of members, but at the level of discourse, we find ourselves within the Francofools family resemblance idea. That is, despite serious differences, they all fall under the same political discourse. Agreements and disagreements within that diverse Beti Ewondo group are expressed in the same language, that of Francofools.

All members of the so-called Vice President Ferdinand Ngoh Ngoh group view themselves through what many in Southern Cameroons called the “Francophone supremacists”. Similarly, all members of this Ngoh Ngoh group paint others like Eko Eko clamoring for a peaceful resolution of the conflict in Southern Cameroons as black legs. The Ngoh Ngoh doctrine simplifies Cameroon into good and bad: Beti Ewondo political dominance and Anglophone barbarism. Minister Ferdinand Ngoh Ngoh’s doctrine is presently being observed in all departments of government despite numerous and violent differences among its various members.

Despite glaring differences, all these stances can be understood within the same Francophone political discourse, whose goal is to destroy everything Anglo-Saxon and replace it with some new Made In Yaoundé political structure in which Southern Cameroons will no longer have political relevance.

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai

16, May 2023

Southern Cameroons Crisis Is Now a Full-Blown Civil War ⁰

Since 2017, Cameroon has been engulfed in a bloody civil war that has claimed more than 6,000 lives, forced more than 1 million people to flee their homes and left nearly 4 million people dependent on humanitarian assistance. Diplomatic efforts to resolve the conflict have repeatedly failed, most recently in January, when a Canada-backed initiative was aborted before it even got off the ground. Now divisions among the armed separatist movement fighting the government risk escalating the conflict, raising further obstacles to reaching peace.

The conflict has its origins in protests that began in 2016 over language-based grievances in the Anglophone North-West and South-West regions of the majority-Francophone country. Led by lawyers, students and teachers, the demonstrations sought to block a new measure that imposed French-speaking teachers and judges in Anglophone schools and courts, while also calling attention to the broader marginalization of Cameroon’s Anglophone population, which constitutes roughly 17 percent of the country’s inhabitants.

After authorities brutally repressed the peaceful protests, a previously existing separatist movement radicalized and began to launch attacks against government forces the following year. In October 2017, Anglophone secessionist groups declared the creation of an independent Federal Republic of Ambazonia, with the Ambazonia Governing Council at its head. The following month, the Cameroonian government declared war on the secessionists and deployed soldiers to the Anglophone regions to crush them.

Since then, the violence has escalated into a full-blown civil war that has raged on despite domestic and international efforts to broker peace. In 2019, peace talks mediated by Switzerland followed by a week-long national dialogue initiated by the government failed to halt the fighting, partly due to infighting among the separatists. The following year, another dialogue involving several jailed members of the separatist movement’s leadership collapsed, this time due to divisions in the Cameroonian government as well as among the separatists.

The Canada-facilitated dialogue between the Cameroonian government and Anglophone separatists announced by Canadian Foreign Minister Melanie Joly in January was the latest high-profile attempt to “reach a comprehensive, peaceful and political resolution of the conflict.” But three days after Joly’s announcement, a Cameroonian government spokesperson shot down the proposal, saying that Yaounde did not entrust any country with the role of mediating the crisis.

But while Yaounde took the blame for scuttling the most recent initiative, some observers chalked up the abortive dialogue to internal disagreements among the Anglophone leaders. In an exclusive interview with World Politics Review, Capo Daniel, the former spokesperson of the Ambazonia Governing Council, which represented the separatists in preliminary discussions, said that “internal politics” within the organization’s hierarchy is as much to blame as Yaounde’s intransigence for the failure of the Canada-initiated peace talks.

The Hong Kong-based separatist leader was part of the Anglophone negotiating team at “pre-talks” between the Cameroonian government and the Anglophone separatists. But he resigned from his position as spokesman for the council and its military wing last month, citing fundamental disagreements with the movement’s leaders. “We had strong divergent views in the leadership, both about the commitment we secured from the state of Cameroon and the Canadians that facilitated the process,” he told WPR. “The commitment was for a negotiated settlement, but we failed due to the internal politics and the divided nature of our camps.”

The historical origins of the Anglophone crisis date back to the end of World War I, when German Kamerun—as the colonial territory was then known—was divided into two League of Nations mandates. Britain took over roughly one-fifth of the territory along the borders of neighboring Nigeria, while France assumed control of the remainder. When French Cameroon won its independence in 1960, the U.N. organized a plebiscite the following year to determine the fate of the British Cameroons. But that referendum offered voters only two options: to merge with either Nigeria or Cameroon. Northern Cameroon voted for union with Nigeria, where its former territory now makes up parts of Adamawa, Taraba and Borno states. Southern Cameroon opted for union with Cameroon.

To this day, many Anglophone Cameroonians consider the 1961 plebiscite to be an injustice. According to Samuel Ikome Sako, the president of the unrecognized Federal Republic of Ambazonia, that referendum presented Southern Cameroon with “two bad options,” instead of the self-government that many desired.

In the years after unification with Cameroon, a federal system was established to administer the country and preserve a sense of autonomy in the Anglophone regions. In that system, both English and French were established as the country’s official languages. But beginning in 1972, then-President Ahmadou Ahidjo introduced a process to centralize authority, which ultimately abolished Cameroon’s federal system, further concentrated powers in the hands of the president and effectively imposed a Francophone character on the Cameroonian state.

Cameroon’s civil war has now metastasized, turning most parts of the Anglophone regions into a battlefield between separatist militias and government forces.

It was against this backdrop of distrust and disillusionment that the 2016 demonstrations and civil disobedience erupted, triggered by policies that were seen as attempts to further erode the Anglophone regions’ language status and exacerbated by Yaounde’s brutal response to the peaceful protests. Ever since then, the conflict has metastasized, turning most parts of the North-West and South-West regions into a battlefield between separatist militias and government forces. There have been 30 attacks by separatist militias and Cameroonian security forces since January, with the violence taking place in rural communities like Bali, Bache, Bambui, Oku, Kumbo and Jakiri near the Nigerian border, but also in cities like Bamenda and Buea, where one person died in a separatist attack on April 10.

In addition, more than 700,000 children have had their education disrupted due to regular attacks by armed groups trying to impose school boycotts. The United Nations estimates that two out of every three schools in the Anglophone regions have closed indefinitely. This is aside from grave human rights abuses—including mass killings, rape, torture, assault and kidnappings of civilians—committed by both sides, according to Human Rights Watch.

The breakdown of the Canada-backed peace initiative now risks escalating the conflict indefinitely. As a result of the collapsed talks, violence spiked across the two Anglophone regions in February and March. This included the killings of unarmed civilians in Muea by Cameroonian troops and the brutal assassination of Chiabi Emmanuel—a prominent academic—by a nonstate armed group in Bamenda, the capital of the North-West region. On March 15, two students at the University of Buea were arrested by Cameroonian security forces, accused of links to separatist fighters. Hours after their arrest, one of the students, Ngule Linus, died in custody, prompting calls for an investigation.

Daniel, the former spokesperson for the Ambazonia Governing Council, has since launched a new movement called the Ambazonia Peoples Rights Advocacy Platform, with the goal of renewing efforts to resolve the conflict. He is looking to use a constitutional clause called “Special Status” that enables the central government to “take into consideration the specificities of certain Regions with regard to their organisation and functioning,” in order to enhance the Anglophone regions’ powers of self-governance.

President Paul Biya already used the clause in 2019 to institute measures that transformed the Anglophone regional councils into more powerful regional assemblies, with authority over the local education system, regional development institutions and relations with traditional chiefs—all powers that the Francophone councils do not have. But a report by the International Crisis Group argued that Yaounde “undercut the impact and legitimacy of the 2019 measures by filling the assemblies with government proxies and giving veto power over their decisions to the centrally appointed governors.”

Daniel’s goal is to see whether more concessions can be won beyond the limited autonomy granted by Biya four years ago. But many critics, including among the separatists, argue that this approach would not go far enough in granting autonomy to the Anglophone regions, where popular opinion since 2017 has oscillated between federalism and secession. Given the absence of opinion polls, it is difficult to gauge the extent of public support for secession. But it is clear that many English-speaking Cameroonians do not trust that their rights will ever be fully guaranteed if they remain in the union.

But in addition to the flaws in the Special Status approach, it is not clear how many within the separatist camp will accept Daniel’s leadership. Tse Anye Kevin, one of the organizers of the 2016 protests, dismissed Daniel’s credibility, blaming him and other separatist leaders in the diaspora for “creating chaos on the ground.” Kevin was the deputy president of the Confederation of Cameroon Trade Unions in 2016, but in the wake of the brutal repression that followed the protests he fled to Nigeria, where he remains. While still active in efforts to attract international attention to the Anglophone crisis, Kevin is critical of the factional struggles among Ambazonian leaders, which he considers to be the major obstacle to achieving freedom for Cameroon’s Anglophone communities.

He nonetheless believes that, despite the disunity abroad, the disparate groups that make up the liberation movement on the ground in the Anglophone regions—including their armed factions—are willing to work together. But that might be too optimistic. Following his resignation from the Ambazonia Governing Council, Daniel promptly assembled fighting units loyal to him under a new group called the Ambazonia Dark Forces, with the intention of launching a campaign of economic sabotage targeting the Biya regime’s investments in the Anglophone regions.

The aim, according to Daniel, is “to cripple the Biya regime and force it to agree to a cease-fire by denying it economic revenues.” But that will mean further escalation of the conflict, both with the government and potentially among the separatists, with all the implications that holds for the residents of the region.

Culled from World Politics Review

12, May 2023

Letters: Manyu Diaspora must learn from the Asian Diaspora! ⁰

Many people have been wondering why the Asian Diaspora has made giant strides forward in Europe and North America, but the answer is obvious. Asians know how to pool their resources in order to achieve their goal. Their humility is a massive asset which has enabled them to reduce their dependence on Caucasians.

In many Western countries, Asians such as Indians and Chinese have actually established parallel economies which operate based on the rules of their new environment.

This is unfortunately not true with the African Diaspora which is struggling and has not yet figured out that unity is strength.

Most Sub-Saharan Africans come from environments wherein the solutions to their problems have been designed by nature but none of them is willing to learn the lessons of nature.

Sub-Saharan Africa is both savannah and forest and there is a lot to learn from this environment. Locust attack in a group! Lions hunt together to reduce the chances of their preys surviving their attack.

A pride of lions is bad news to any animal. Hynas attack as a herd and they hardly kill each other though they may fight over their catch.

Crocodiles move in hordes, making it possible for them to tear their preys apart with relative ease. Even ants know that to overcome their challenge and guarantee the safety of their queen, they must work together.

In Cameroon, the people of the grass field understand that there is power in numbers. It is no surprise that the Bamilekes are those running the country’s economy and their northwest neighbors are dogging their footsteps when it comes to collaboration.

North westerners know that you will gain more through collaboration than through confrontation. They also know that conflict is as old as man, but their humility dictates to them that by addressing their differences, they could attain their common objective with relative ease.

But not every Cameroonian ethnic group sees life the same way. The people of Manyu have, from time immemorial, held that divided we stand and they are not going to change their ways anytime soon. They all are the best educated and their universities are always the best. Unity is not strength in Manyu.

Put ten Manyu people in one room and let them know that you have CFAF 50 million for any project of their choice in Manyu Division and that they should come up with a project plan which could create thousands of direct and indirect jobs in Manyu Division.

Strangely, if you come back after 20 minutes, they would not be talking to each other because they would have exhausted their stock of insults on each other. The objective was for them to talk to each other so that they can bring about development in their region but with Manyu people, development efforts are always counter-productive as they will never agree even on the smallest things of life.

After many decades abroad, the Manyu Diaspora remains the most fragmented Diaspora. Collective effort is not their forte and each of them always wants to be a hero. Just living abroad is a huge achievement to people of Manyu descent.

Strangely, they all always say their region has been neglected. Who else should be thinking of Manyu Division if the people who come there cannot work together to achieve the benefits of unity?

Working with other people requires humility and working together builds confidence and character. It is rare to see two Manyu people really getting involved in a partnership. Their bloated ego will always stand in the way of business and they will, at best, become enemies because of the business, with each of them accusing the other of engineering the failure of their business.

They are yet to understand that classroom knowledge has very little to do with success in life and business.

Business and life require a vision and not certificates. Formal education gives you information, life gives you wisdom. If you know how to use both, you will be the most accomplished person in life. The Manyu Diaspora must learn from the Asian Diaspora.

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai

9, May 2023

Cameroon’s projections toned down due to challenging global environment ⁰

Cameroon’s economic growth was revised down to 3.4% for 2022, reflecting the impact of the security crises in the Anglophone regions and the Far North, inflationary pressure, global supply chain disruptions and tight financial conditions. In 2023, GDP growth is expected to recover somewhat to 4.3%, mainly driven by LNG and mining production.

Impact

Cameroon is the largest economy in the CEMAC (Central African Economic and Monetary Union) and is relatively well diversified compared to the other oil-reliant member states. Nevertheless, the country is highly dependent on commodity exports (oil, gas, mining and agriculture), making it vulnerable to external shocks and price volatility. Further economic diversification is essential, knowing that Cameroon’s existing oil fields are maturing and the decline in oil production is set to continue. Insecurity and an ongoing conflict since 2017 have deterred the development of new fields as Cameroon’s oil riches are mostly located in the Anglophone regions.

The country’s 2022 external balances benefitted from high international commodity prices following the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Despite higher inflation and import prices, Cameroon’s terms of trade improved. The current account deficit has moderated and is expected to stabilise at around a manageable 3% of GDP as of 2023. However, a funding squeeze – resulting from global risk aversion and high domestic and international borrowing costs – has been lowering capital inflows. Consequently, small financing gaps could emerge on the external balance of payments. Thanks to the improved terms of trade, Cameroon’s foreign exchange reserves have recovered to pre-Covid levels of around five months of import cover. In fact, Cameroon is the largest contributor to the reserves of the CEMAC, a monetary union consisting mainly of oil-exporting countries where liquidity levels still tend to follow the evolution of hydrocarbon revenues.

Cameroon participates in a three-year IMF Extended Credit Facility programme since July 2021, to help deal with the immediate financial consequences of the Covid-19 crisis and the country’s weak public payment behaviour. Although structural reforms are lacking and the general fiscal performance is mixed, the IMF programme remains on track. Assuming fiscal reforms will be strictly implemented, the public debt stock is expected to come down to 43% of GDP by the end of 2023, after having grown steadily over the past decade to 47% and 46% of GDP in 2021 and 2022 respectively. Despite the acceptable public debt stock level, the government’s finances have been under serious stress and the difficult liquidity position of the state – especially due to dysfunctional state-owned enterprises (SOEs) – have led to substantial domestic and external payment arrears over the past few years. The over-indebtedness of public oil company SONARA and the bad payment morality of other SOEs have seriously damaged the country’s financial reputation. Moreover, the IMF classifies Cameroon at ‘high risk of debt distress’, although it considers the country’s public debt to be ‘sustainable’, meaning a default is not anticipated. Rising LNG production and growing mining output will help Cameroon’s fiscal revenue collection in the near term, even though oil output will continue to decline.

Despite substantial domestic food production and the BEAC’s (a regional central bank, serving the CEMAC member states) tighter monetary policies, inflation in Cameroon still reached 6% in 2022 and is expected to remain at 5.7% in 2023. The rising cost of living is mainly driven by food inflation caused by unfavourable domestic weather conditions, security issues and high import prices. Together with shortages of fertilisers, high food prices do not only drive up inflation, they also raise the risk for food insecurity.

Credendo’s MLT political risk classification for Cameroon was downgraded from 5/7 to 6/7 in May 2020 during the Covid-19 crisis and has remained stable ever since. The separatist violence in the Anglophone regions and the insecurity related to Boko Haram in the Far North pose important downside risks. Another risk stems from the political scene that is dominated by 90-year-old President Paul Biya, who won a seventh term in 2018 during a flawed election and is rumoured to be in poor health. It is highly uncertain what will happen if and when Paul Biya becomes unable to rule, but that situation would entail a serious risk of political destabilisation.

Culled from Credendo

3, May 2023

Bishop Bibi and the renovation of Divine Mercy Co-Cathedral: Be a Samaritan ⁰

When Bishop Bibi was formally installed as Bishop of the Buea Diocese, one of the first ways he sought to implement the ever flowing spirit of Vatican II deep within the Diocese of Buea was to continue with renovation work at the Divine Mercy Co-Cathedral.

Influenced by donations coming in from several Samaritans, Bishop Michael Miabesue-to use his three names, is now full of praise to all lay faithful supporting the roofing and tiling of the external walls of the Divine Mercy Co-Cathedral.

Cameroon Concord News Group understands that the Bishop Bibi Divine Mercy Co-Cathedral Project is arguably the most drastic ever since the Holy Father placed him at the head of affairs in the Buea Diocese.

In his most recent pastoral letter dated May 3, 2023 and addressed to all societies of Apostolic life, members of the Institute of Consecrated Life including all lay faithful in the Buea Diocese and even beyond, the much respected Roman Catholic cleric observed that there is an urgent need for installation of aluminum, plastic glass windows and decorated gravel paper sticker in the Divine Mercy Co-Cathedral.

Reacting to Bishop Bibi’s pastoral letter on the Divine Mercy Co-Cathedral, Tambe Ndip Arrah of the Cameroon Catholic Community in Mulheim in the Federal Republic of Germany said it is the Bishop’s own version of Opera Artis, geared towards protecting the artistic heritage of the Divine Mercy Co-Cathedral

The laity is happy

The renovation of the Divine Mercy Co-Cathedral is significant in that it is very popular with all in the Diocese of Buea!

This editorial is simply to create a greater awareness of the renovation in the diaspora for all in Europe and North America to support the Bishop in the proposed changes to Buea Diocese historic Divine Mercy Co-Cathedral.

Material costs

The Bishop has made it easy for all not to wonder too much about the material cost of the renovation!! It is simply for families to choose where to help!! See document attached!!

We of the Cameroon Concord News Group think it is good stewardship. Bishop Bibi has finally found creative solutions that preserve the old art, protect the integrity of the architecture, and maintain a sacral atmosphere. Be a part of the Divine Mercy Co-Cathedral project!

By Sheikh Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai

Chairman/Editor-In-Chief

Cameroon Concord News Group

24, April 2023

Yaoundé: Biya celebrates 29 years of ‘blissful’ marriage! ⁰

Cameroon’s President, Paul Biya, has just celebrated 29 years of ‘blissful’ marriage to his wife, Chantal Biya, who is noted for her flaming red hair.

The pictures of the event, which have been trending online, were designed to demonstrate how powerful the couple is but feedback from many observers leaves much to be desired.

Supporters of the dictator have been trying to demonstrate that the 90-year-old was still strong and energetic, a reason for him to run again in 2025 in the presidential election.

But pictures do not always lie. Paul Biya, the man who was much loved by Cameroonians in 1982, is today a shadow of his former self. He is more of a bag of bones than the athletic person he was in the 80s. His physical attraction is today something of the past as violent molds threaten to take over his entire face.

In recent times, the ailing, aged and disoriented president has been a massive liability and embarrassment to his country and there are doubts even within his ruling and corrupt party, the Cameroon Peoples Democratic Movement (CPDM) about his ability to represent the party.

Mr. Biya, who has never really won any presidential election since 1992, has vowed to die in power with the support of the military and his fellow corrupt party members are doing their best to keep him in power so that they can continue to loot the system.

It is obvious that Mr. Biya is not in control of things in Yaoundé. His closest collaborators, including his wife, have created a ring of fire around him and they are running the show however they want and anybody suspected of not following their marching orders is immediately arrested on trumped up charges and sent to the Yaoundé Maximum Security Prison.

Biya really has a reason to celebrate that marriage of his which has been tested on many occasions and the results of the scrutiny point to something which keeps the 90-year-old president worried and awake at night.

Some of his own ministers have been looking at Chantal with the eyes of love but the fear of spending their whole lives in Kondengui has served as a restraint on those ministers with roving eyes.

The first lady herself has been the subject of some unpleasant rumor and it is alleged that a former minister of public health, Urbain Olengena Awono, is languishing in jail today even when he has been absolved of most of the charges against him, because the first lady needed him in more ways than one, some of which were not work-related.

Though not loved by Cameroonians, the 90-year-old president is incontestably part and parcel of Cameroon’s political story and during the wedding anniversary, Biya and his flamboyant wife were cheered by family members who are all members of the ruling CPDM crime syndicate which has taken control of the country’s treasury.

As far as democracy is concerned, the problem is that Biya and his cohort of kleptocrats and kakistocrats are determined to hang on to power even after the next presidential election.

He has been in office for 40 years, but his decision to continue holding on to power is indeed unwise. Ever since he was forced to reintroduce democracy in the country in 1990, elections have been about vote rigging, calls for boycott and abstention.

For a man who has always insisted that he was the president of all Cameroonians – even as those same Cameroonians particularly those from the English-speaking part of the country are constantly being slaughtered by his Francophone dominated security forces – Biya has, over the last two years, not ventured beyond his stronghold of Yaoundé.

There is a very obvious reason for that: a significant proportion of Cameroonians see him as a man without legitimacy. Many hold that a Biya-free Cameroon will be an El-dorado and that after 40 years of political and economic chaos, it is time for him to yield the floor.

Biya’s appearances in Etoudi in 2023 are politically intriguing and are all aimed at seeking to send a message to Cameroonians. His recent wedding anniversary ceremony was also meant to show strength but that too only proved that he clearly belongs to the past and if he harbors any thoughts of running again, he should shelve those plan as most Cameroonians are looking forward to a change in political personalities and approaches.

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai

20, April 2023

5.2% Salary Increase: What about retirees? ⁰

In his December 31, 2022 end-of-year address to the nation, Cameroon’s President, Paul Biya, announced that the country’s civil servants would be blessed with a 5.2% salary increase in the New Year.

Instead of triggering excitement and celebration, the president’s announcement was as unpopular as himself. Indeed, the salary increase was long overdue and when it came, it sounded more like a drop in the ocean.

Cameroon has the lowest salaries in all French-speaking African countries. Following the devaluation of the CFA Franc in the early 90s, most French-speaking African countries increased the salaries of their workers, with some taking up the salaries of their civil servants by 100%.

On the contrary, Cameroon slashed civil service salaries by 66%, triggering a wave of corruption within government departments and a storm of migration which has resulted in the country’s best and brightest looking outward for greener pastures.

Today, the country’s economic outlook is grim and the economy has been weakened by both internal and external shocks.

Among the most destabilizing shocks are COVID-19, rising oil prices and the Ukraine war which has triggered a global inflation which has left many Cameroonians in tough financial circumstances.

The 5.2% salary increase announced by Cameroon’s president was the government’s best effort to cushion the impact of inflation, but it, in turn, increased fuel prices, taxes and the prices of certain products, a clear contradiction which leaves doubts in many minds.

For someone who earns CFAF 200,000 in Cameroon, a 5.2% salary increase will give them an additional CFAF 10,000 which will not afford them much in terms of goods and services.

Strangely, the government’s inflation-checking plan was not intended for everyone. The private sector has not sought to alleviate the financial pain of its workers. There are vulnerable segments of the population which have not been attended to and they are really hurting.

Among the hurting segments are retirees whose incomes are fixed and they cannot find any jobs by virtue of their ages in a country wherein unemployment has reached astronomical figures.

Retirees are hurting. They need help. The government plan never thought about them. Their pensions are fixed and inflation which actually stands at over 20% is diminishing the retiree’s financial ability.

The government has taken the first step, but it must go beyond what it has already done. More supporting measures are required if the impact of the devastating inflation must be cushioned.

Most retirees have been driven to the brink. With age, come many diseases. Many Cameroonian retirees are suffering from hypertension, diabetes and cardiovascular diseases. Their current incomes do not give them the financial leeway to operate the way they want.

If the Cameroonian government has to help retirees, it must come up with special programs which will help retirees to be hopeful.

Putting a good medical plan for retirees and giving them tax breaks will be one step that will bring them some peace of mind. A good health insurance program designed to meet the health needs of retirees will go a long way in addressing some of the financial stress generated by escalating goods and services prices.

By Dr. Joachim Arrey

17, April 2023

Southern Cameroons Crisis: Yaoundé Government Engages in Wrong Negotiation ⁰

As the killings and maiming of innocent civilians in Cameroon’s two English-speaking regions continue to play out, the Yaoundé government has instead decided to send a delegation to Washington D.C. to address the issue of the country’s eligibility for the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA), an American program which aims at granting duty-free treatment to goods of designated Sub-Saharan African countries. This access granted to African countries is contingent upon the human rights records of these African countries.

Cameroon once had access to the American market under AGOA, but when the Yaoundé government decided to use weapons designed to fight Boko Haram terrorists in the country’s northern regions on innocent civilians in the country’s two English-speaking regions where the English-speaking minority was indicting the Yaoundé government of marginalization and injustice, the American Administration of Donald Trump promptly cut off the Central African country from the attractive perks offered by the program.

Losing its privileges under AGOA also meant Cameroon could no longer have access to American sophisticated weapons, especially the night vision goggles, which made it possible for the poor Central African country to keep the terrorists at bay.

Since 2018, the Biya regime has been struggling to roll back Boko Haram terrorists and the absence of the right weapons has made their effort real hard labor, especially as the country’s army has lost and continues to lose many if its soldiers in a battle many experts say will be drawn out.

Cameroon’s numerous loses in its northern region against Boko Haram and its inability to bring about peace in its two English-speaking regions have resulted in massive frustrations, with the Yaoundé government clearly staring down the barrel of defeat.

The country’s Minister of Economy, Planning and Regional Development, Alamine Ousmane Mey, is currently leading a delegation to the American capital to plead for a forgiveness of the sins and crimes of the Yaoundé government.

When the Trump Administration pulled the plug on its deal with the Biya regime, the Yaoundé government’s surrogates and spin doctors were on many news channels to prove that the American decision would not hurt the Yaoundé government.

The Yaoundé government has been in the business of creating troll farms which will help it fight its fights in the media. Strangely, the government’s trolls are usually young and hungry people who hardly see beyond the next meal. They were blissfully oblivious of the consequences of their actions and those consequences have shown up today and they are biting the desperate government where it hurts the most.

At the time the American Administration rolled back its military help to Cameroon, the North American country had clearly pointed to Cameroon’s dismal human rights record. The Trump Administration did not mince its words but left a little window for the Central African country to return with a view to enjoying AGOA-related benefits if and when it addresses those human rights issues.

But the Yaoundé government is wont to placing the cart before the horses. The human rights abuses in the country’s two English-speaking regions have not been improved, with civilians still being killed like game by the country’s army soldiers.

In the North, Boko Haram remains a real threat and even the government’s worst enemies acknowledge that without external support, Boko Haram terrorists will, without a doubt, make that part of the country ungovernable.

Despite this unanimity, many rights groups have demonstrated that the Yaoundé government and its soldiers are not conducting the war against Boko Haram according to universally- accepted norms. Desperation sometimes pushes the soldiers into committing massive and despicable abuses on the civilian population and this is diminishing the country’s image on the global stage.

It is clear that it is impossible to wean the government from its old and bad ways. The Yaoundé government has only one major tool in its huge arsenal – violence – and this is usually employed to intimidate civilians suspected of aiding and abetting the terrorists and, in many cases, the soldiers get it terribly wrong as lost civilian lives cannot be restored.

Regarding the two English-speaking regions of the country, the international community, led by the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom, has been calling on the Yaoundé government to adopt a more humane and diplomatic approach in its efforts to find a permanent solution to a crisis which has already claimed close to ten thousand lives.

The international community has been backing any peaceful efforts which could result in lasting peace in the two English-speaking regions of the country, although not much has been achieved given that the Yaoundé government only believes in war as the only and ideal method which can restore peace in the two English-speaking regions.

The world was optimistic when the Swiss Talks were launched and the Vatican’s full support of the talks gave Cameroonians a real moment of hope. But in its characteristic manner, the Yaoundé government walked away from the talks, hoping that time would deliver the results it was looking forward to. Unfortunately, that is not happening.

The Yaoundé government holds that only time will address the Southern Cameroons crisis which has brought untold hardship to Cameroonians.

A war which started as a protest by lawyers and teachers has already lasted seven years and it has brought out the worst in humans as unnecessary killings and atrocities have become the order of the day. Schools in rural parts of the regions remain closed, with more than a million children being denied access to education which could help them unlock their potential and opportunities in the future.

The Southwest region, in particular, was, before the war, considered as the country’s bread basket, but following the war, food production has taken a nosedive, with food-related inflation hitting many Cameroonians like a ton of bricks.

The Southwest region alone accounted, before the war, for about 50% of the country’s cocoa production, but for more than five years, cocoa production has witnessed a huge decline as many farmers have escaped to the cities and towns where they can find some relative peace and many of them will not be returning to those farms anytime soon, especially after having had a taste of city life.

Despite the Yaoundé government’s withdrawal from the Swiss Talks, the international community has continued to find ways to bring the protagonists to the negotiating table.

The international community understands that without a full discussion on the core issues which caused Southern Cameroonians to pick up arms against the Yaoundé government, genuine peace would continue to be elusive in a country many hold, is responsible for the Central African region’s stability.

It was on these grounds that the international community designated Canada, a country noted for its diplomacy and experience in negotiating with linguistic minorities and leading intergovernmental negotiations, to lead talks between Cameroon’s separatists and the Yaoundé government.

The Yaoundé government accepted to come to the negotiating table and its Prime Minister, Joseph Dion Ngute, stood firmly behind the talks hoping that Canada’s experience and honesty would help to bring back peace to the country.

Three pre-talks had taken place in Canada. One in Toronto, Canada’s economic nerve centre and home to many rich Southern Cameroonians who have overtly and solidly stood behind the separatists, while two had taken place in Québec, Canada’s purely French-speaking province.

But when the Canadian Foreign Affairs Minister, Melanie Joly, announced early this year that Canada had been designated by the separatists and Yaoundé government to lead the talks, the Yaoundé government promptly issued a press release advising that it had not authorized anybody or any country to seek solutions to the crisis in the country’s two English-speaking regions.

Once again, the Yaoundé government had thrown a massive monkey-wrench into the works and this immediately destroyed the enthusiasm and hope the Canadian press release had generated across the globe.

The Yaoundé government took a lot of flax for its recklessness and constant refusal to be part of global efforts at finding lasting peace in the country after its unpopular press release.

But that did not dampen the enthusiasm and determination of the international community in general and that of Canada in particular. The U.S. and the UK promptly congratulated Canada on accepting to play such a key and positive role in a conflict which was destroying the country’s economy and offered their support when and if it would be needed.

The separatists, for their part, immediately formed a common front, proving that the Yaoundé government was the problem and not Southern Cameroonians who have been calling for peace. They accepted to attend any talks and urged the international community to support Canada in its efforts to engineer peace in Cameroon, though they have since failed to call for a resumption of schooling in the rural parts of the two English-speaking regions of the country.

Today, a delegation of the Yaoundé government is in Washington D.C. for reasons mentioned above, but before the delegation left the country to the U.S, the Yaoundé government on April 7, 2023 cancelled a planned visit by the Canadian deputy foreign affairs minister, Peter Macdougall, to Cameroon, once more underscoring that it had no appetite for peace.

However, if it has no appetite for peace, it has a huge appetite for money and this will bring it to the negotiating table as it has to deal with those who have been calling for peace talks with the separatists.

Now that the Yaoundé government needs American financial support, will Americans yield to Cameroon’s plea for readmission into AGOA when its human rights record still leaves much to be desired? Will Americans just open the doors to Cameroon when the Yaoundé government has no plan to sit with Southern Cameroonian separatists for those issues which triggered the war to be discussed? Cameroon needs America more than America needs Cameroon.

If America truly believes in human rights, then it should oblige the Yaoundé government to immediately start talks with Southern Cameroonians with Canada moderating the talks. Cameroon should engage, first, in the right talks before going to Washington D.C. to ask for a forgiveness of its sins.

By Dr. Joachim Arrey