Headline News

Cameroon gov’t forces invade Biafra separatist camp in Bakassi

16, August 2022

Cameroon gov’t forces invade Biafra separatist camp in Bakassi 0

Cameroonian forces have invaded the camp of separatist militants in Isangele sub-division of Bakassi Peninsula but with no casualty.

It was gathered that the invasion, which took place at the weekend, may not be unconnected with the attack by the Black Marine, a suspected armed wing of the Biafra Nations League (BnL), that reportedly killed four members of the Rapid D’intervention Battalion (BIR) about two weeks ago when they attempted to forcefully invade the camp.

Sources said the Cameroonian soldiers did not meet anybody in the camp as the separatist fighters were said to have relocated, leaving items such as Biafran flags on the trees.

They said the militant group moved inwards into the creek, leaving the military wondering about their position.

The BnL leader of Bakassi, Ita Bassey, in a statement, yesterday, confirmed the attack. He said: “Our members are not afraid of military reinforcement in Isangele as we are fighting a genuine course.”

He declined to comment if the Black Marine were working for the BnL, but warned that BnL commands large loyalists in the Gulf of Guinea. He added: “We are ready to die for our course.”

Meanwhile, the leader of BnL, Princewill Richards, was in Idabato sub-division for few days, following reinforcement of troops. It was gathered that he sneaked in at night on Wednesday last week to engage his members.

Recall that the Black Marine has been terrorising the Gulf of Guinea and threatening Cameroonian oil companies operating in the area.

Source: The Guardian

Ambazonian struggle against French Cameroun cannot stop unless occupation ends

16, August 2022

Ambazonian struggle against French Cameroun cannot stop unless occupation ends 0

The Ambazonia Interim Government (IG) says the Southern Cameroons resistance groups will not quit fighting La Republique du Cameroun until the entire Federal Republic of Ambazonia is fully liberated.

The IG said in a statement on Monday that French Cameroun’s latest episode of brutality against the people of Southern Cameroons was criminal and provocative.

The press statement that was made public by the Southern Cameroons Department of Foreign Affairs said what happened in the Northern Zone as recorded by Human Rights Watch was proof that there can never be any genuine dialogue with French Cameroun so long as the 89 year old Paul Biya was still at the head of affairs in Yaoundé.

Tensions have skyrocketed across the entire Southern Cameroons ever since Human Rights Watch published its report on the atrocities committed by Francophone soldiers in the Ambazonian homeland.  Over 40000 people including women and children have been killed.

Several Ambazonian commanders leading the resistance have also been killed.

Recent escalation particularly in the Northern Zone remains the worst since the 89 year old Biya declared war against English speaking Cameroonians in 2016.

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai

CPDM Crime Syndicate: Yaoundé blames war in Ukraine for food price spikes

16, August 2022

CPDM Crime Syndicate: Yaoundé blames war in Ukraine for food price spikes 0

Officials in Cameroon are urging people to eat local foods instead of imports, following protests over shortages and price spikes caused in part by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

President Paul Biya last week ordered ministers to explain to the public that Russia’s Black Sea blockade, not local taxes, has caused a nearly 60% increase in prices for fertilizer and imported foods.

Hundreds of people, a majority of them women, listened to explanations offered by government officials dispatched to the Mfoundi market in the capital Yaounde.

Harouna Nyandji Mgbatou, the top official in Yaounde’s first district, called on the public to consume locally grown food, which he sai was cheaper than imported food.

Asta Koumam, a 30-year old medical laboratory technician, was among those listening. She said that the price of a liter of imported vegetable oil has increased from less than two dollars to about three and a half. She said she and her children have decided to measure vegetable oil in a spoon no matter the quantity of food they are cooking because they cannot cope with food price hikes.

Territorial administration minister Paul Atanga Nji outlined the scope of the problem.

Nji said a 50-kilogram bag of imported rice that sold at $25 in February now sells at $55. He said the same quantity of rice grown in Cameroon has seen a 5% price increase to $25 because the price of fertilizer imported from Ukraine and Russia has also increased from $30 to more than $70.

Cameroon’s trade ministry reports that the central African country imported more than 850,000 tons of cereals from Russia and Ukraine in 2020. In contrast, the Cameroon Importers Union said less than 45,000 tons have been imported since January of this year.

Last week, five government officials, including the ministers of agriculture, trade, finance and mines, held a press conference to explain the consequences of Russia’s war in Ukraine.

The press conference, ordered by President Biya, was to help quell protests against price hikes in several towns and villages across Cameroon.

Rene Emmanuel Sadi, spokesperson for Cameroon’s government, said that Yaounde has provisionally suspended the export of cereal crops, palm oil and other staple foods to neighboring countries to make sure that there is enough food for its own population. He said the government has also removed or suspended import duties and taxes on rice, fish, palm oil and building material to protect consumers from skyrocketing prices.

Julienne Gregoire Onguene Ateba, an economist and international transport and logistic specialist at Cameroon’s seaport in Douala, said that the current situation could have been avoided with more foresight.

He said if Cameroon’s government had invested in local production, especially of food as economists suggested to cushion the effects of COVID-19, the population should have been spared the price spikes and food scarcity that has resulted from Russia’s war in Ukraine.

In July, Cameroon’s government called for emergency food support for more than two million people facing hunger. Authorities said destitute civilians threatened by food insecurity along the northern borders with Chad and Nigeria are finding it especially hard to cope with the rising prices.

Source: VOA

Southern Cameroons Crisis: Amba fighters kill soldier, police officer in Kengwo

16, August 2022

Southern Cameroons Crisis: Amba fighters kill soldier, police officer in Kengwo 0

Southern Cameroons Self Defense fighters killed three people, including a soldier and a police officer on Sunday in Kengwo a border locality in the West region.

Amba fighters attacked an army post in Kengwo, killing a soldier, a police officer and a motorcyclist, said the region’s governor, Augustine Awa Fonka.

The attackers seized weapons and suffered no losses, he added.

Kengwo is near the North West region, which with the neighbouring South West region has suffered a bloody conflict between Ambazonia Restoration Forces and the Francophone dominated Cameroon government military for five years.

English speakers make up a majority of the regions’ populations in predominantly French-speaking Cameroon, which President Paul Biya has ruled with an iron fist since 1982.

Anglophones feel marginalised and an independent state called “the Federal Republic of Ambazonia” was declared in 2017 by their leader President Sisiku Ayuk Tabe without achieving international recognition.

Biya, 89, has resisted calls for more autonomy in the regions and responded with a crackdown on the separatists.

The violence has claimed more than 6,000 lives and displaced around a million people, according to the International Crisis Group (ICG) think tank.

International monitors and the United Nations say both sides have committed abuses, including crimes against civilians.

In June, Ambazonia fighters killed five soldiers in an attack in western Cameroon.

By Rita Akana with files

Kenya’s William Ruto: From chicken hawker to president-elect

15, August 2022

Kenya’s William Ruto: From chicken hawker to president-elect 0

President-elect William Ruto is one of Kenya’s wealthiest men but has long portrayed himself as “hustler-in-chief” — the champion of the poor and downtrodden.

Defying corruption allegations going back years, the ambitious 55-year-old clawed his way to the centre of power by playing on his religious faith and humble beginnings selling chickens by the roadside.

His duel against former prime minister Raila Odinga in the August 9 elections was something that he painted in simple terms.

It was, he said, a battle between ordinary “hustlers” struggling to put food on the table and the elite Kenyatta and Odinga “dynasties” that had dominated Kenyan politics for decades.

“We want everyone to feel the wealth of this country. Not just a few at the top,” Ruto had said as he criss-crossed the country promoting his “bottom-up” economic plan.

The shadowy rags-to-riches businessman had effectively run as a challenger after a very public and acrimonious falling out with outgoing president Uhuru Kenyatta, who backed Odinga for the top job.

Despite a race dominated by mudslinging, Ruto on Monday struck a conciliatory tone after his win, vowing to work with “all leaders” after the outcome split the election commission and sparked fears of violence.

“There is no room for vengeance,” Ruto said, adding: “I am acutely aware that our country is at a stage where we need all hands on deck.”

‘Effective strategist’

Ruto had served as deputy president under Kenyatta since 2013, supporting him in two elections with a promise that he would have the backing of his boss in this year’s vote.

It was a political marriage of convenience forged in the aftermath of deadly post-poll violence in 2007-2008 that largely pitted the Kikuyu — Kenyatta’s tribe — against the Kalenjin, Ruto’s ethnic group.

Both men were hauled before the International Criminal Court (ICC), accused of stoking the ethnic unrest.

The cases were eventually dropped, with the prosecution complaining of a relentless campaign of witness intimidation.

But Ruto was left out in the cold after Kenyatta shook hands with longtime foe Odinga in a dramatic switch of political allegiance in 2018.

He bounced back with a campaign that was directed as much at Kenyatta as his rival at the ballot box, blaming the government for Kenya’s economic woes and even accusing the president of threatening him and his family

“Ruto is seen by many people to be one of the most effective strategists in Kenyan politics,” Nic Cheeseman, a political scientist at the University of Birmingham in Britain, said before the poll.

‘Perfect storm’

Clad in the bright yellow of his United Democratic Alliance, whose symbol is the humble wheelbarrow, Ruto sought to reach out to those suffering most from the Covid-induced cost of living crisis that has been aggravated by the war in Ukraine.

Ruto “picked the perfect storm,” Kenyan political analyst Nerima Wako-Ojiwa said before the election.

Observers attribute Ruto’s aggressiveness to the fact he has had to struggle to get everything he has achieved in life from his lowly start in Kenya’s Rift Valley, the Kalenjin heartland.

“I sold chicken at a railway crossing near my home as a child… I paid (school) fees for my siblings,” he once said.

“God has been kind to me and through hard work and determination, I have something.”

His fortune is now said to run into many millions of dollars, with interests spanning hotels, real estate and insurance as well as a vast chicken farm.

A teetotal father of six who describes himself as a born-again Christian, Ruto seldom lets a speech go by without thanking or praising God or reciting from the Bible.

He first got a foot on the political ladder — and detractors claim, access to funds — in 1992. After completing studies in botany, he headed the YK’92 youth movement tasked with drumming up support for the autocratic then-president Daniel arap Moi, also a Kalenjin.

In 1997, when he tried to launch his parliamentary career by contesting a seat on his home turf of Eldoret North, Moi told him he was a disrespectful son of a pauper.

Undeterred, Ruto went on to clinch the seat, which he retained in subsequent elections.

His detractors say he siphoned money from the YK’92 project and used it to go into business, and allegations of corruption and land grabs still hang over him.

But he has long dismissed such claims, once telling local media: “I can account for every coin that I have.”

Source:  AFP

Kenya election chief declares Ruto winner of presidential race

15, August 2022

Kenya election chief declares Ruto winner of presidential race 0

The head of Kenya’s election body on Monday declared Deputy President William Ruto the winner of the country’s close-fought presidential election, despite several commissioners rejecting the results.

“We cannot take ownership of the result that will be announced,” Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) vice chair Juliana Cherera told reporters.

She described the process as “opaque” but did not elaborate, saying further information would be given later.

The IEBC had earlier said it would be issuing the results of the closely fought August 9 race at 1200 GMT but by almost 1500 GMT there was still no announcement.

Latest official results published by Kenyan media early Monday had given Deputy President William Ruto a slight edge over Raila Odinga, the veteran opposition leader who had run with the support of the ruling party.

As confusion reigned, scuffles broke out at the IEBC’s heavily guarded national tallying centre in Nairobi, where some people were seen throwing chairs.

The IEBC has been under pressure to deliver a clean poll after claims of rigging and mismanagement led to the annulment of the 2017 election race.

Source: AFP

Southern Cameroons Crisis: Ghost towns for a better environment

15, August 2022

Southern Cameroons Crisis: Ghost towns for a better environment 0

For more than six years, Cameroonians in the country’s two English-speaking regions have been religiously observing the civil disobedience called for by separatists. Each Monday, English-speaking Cameroonians are asked by people they do not see to stay at home as a way of expressing their disagreement with the Yaoundé government which has been inflexible and indifferent to the people’s plea. 

Businesses in the two regions are still required to pay their taxes regardless of whatever the business-owners believe in. While many extremists among the population seem to enjoy this game that is hurting the economy of the two regions, businesses are not enjoying this game which does not really make any economic sense. 

Many businesses have been shut down and those which are still hoping for better days are really struggling. Despite their struggle, the Yaoundé government still expects these businesses to pay taxes. The businesses have a choice. They can either take instructions from the Yaoundé government and open their doors everyday of the week or comply with the orders of those they don’t know or will never see and shut down their businesses every Monday. 

However, one thing remains. Any businesses which are open must pay taxes whether they operate one day in a week or four times a week. The Yaoundé government only expects the taxes to hit its accounts at the end of the month, failure of which, the government will send out its agents to seal the business premises forever.

While the government and business-owners are still struggling to find a common ground due to ghost town operations, the architects of this destructive policy can transform their ghost town operations into something admirable.

One thing many English-speaking Cameroonians lay claim to is their unique way of doing things. They hold that their towns were cleaner prior to the 1972 reunification and many of them are looking forward to a return to those days when community labour made the towns and villages in the English-speaking regions very clean.

Instead of keeping the population at home on Mondays, the architects of Ghost town operations could as well call on everybody in the two English-speaking regions to come out on Monday from 8am to midday to clean their environment. Ghost town operations could be transformed into a blessing in disguise.

A revolution must not only be painful! It can also bring huge benefits! If East Cameroon is dirty as many English-speaking Cameroonians claim, Southern Cameroonians could use this period marked by a rebellion to demonstrate how constructive they can be. It does not make sense to keep people at home all day long hoping that the Yaoundé government will feel the impact. 

Human beings were made to work and not to be at rest. A body at rest will always be at rest. If Southern Cameroonians transform their Monday Civil Disobedience Day into something positive, the world will see the rebellion as something which can bring some benefits to the people and their environment. Southern Cameroonians should not only be noted for their massive destructive ability. Out of a bad situation, something positive could be manufactured. 

The leaders of the insurgency should declare Mondays in the two English-speaking regions as Environment Day and the population should be made to clean their immediate surroundings, unclog the gutters, and make sure that when it rains, the run-off should find its way to the rivers and the sea. 

Instead of burning shops when the owners open them on Mondays, the business-owners should be given lessons on environmental science, climate change and recycling. Today, most towns and villages in the two English-speaking regions of the country are dealing with the impact of climate change. Plastic pollution has become the new disease as the population disposes of its plastic mess without thinking of the long-term impact. 

It will be a great thing to add something positive to a questionable strategy. Ghost towns for a better environment should be the new slogan in the two English-speaking regions and this will go a long way in addressing those issues which are making life out there unbearable. 

If the invisible leaders have good heads on their shoulders, this is the type of idea they should embrace, develop, and sell to the population. Keeping your environment clean does not only spare you the pain of dealing with diseases, it also helps you to develop environmental awareness. Environmental hygiene is something everybody should embrace. If practiced in those two regions, Mondays will never be considered as wasted days.  Make the most of a painful strategy!

By Dr Joachim Arrey

Southern Cameroons Crisis: Yerima sounds alarm over Francophone soldiers killing of Ambazonians

15, August 2022

Southern Cameroons Crisis: Yerima sounds alarm over Francophone soldiers killing of Ambazonians 0

The Vice President of the Ambazonia Interim Government has reportedly raised the alarm over the rate by which Francophone army soldiers have been killing Southern Cameroonians so far this year.

Dabney Yerima was quoted by the Southern Cameroons Broadcasting Cooperation (SCBC) as saying that the killings in Ground Zero are deeply disturbing and the maiming of so many Ambazonian teenagers this year is completely unacceptable.

According to Human Rights Watch, Cameroon government military summarily killed at least 10 people and carried out a series of other abuses between April 24 and June 12, during counter-insurgency operations in the North-West region. The troops also burned 12 homes, destroyed, and looted health facilities, arbitrarily detained at least 26 people, and are presumed to have forcibly disappeared up to 17 others.

Vice President Dabney Yerima pointed out that the Human Rights Watch figure does not include the killings in Wum, Ekok, Ekondo Titi and in Kumbo. Yerima pleaded with the Southern Cameroons diaspora to stand firm and make sure that such attacks must stop.

As many as 102 Southern Cameroonians young boys and girls have been killed so far this year, many as a result of the use of military force by the Francophone dominated Cameroon government army.

Dabney Yerima condemned the widespread use of live ammunition by Francophone troops during operations across the entire Ambazonia homeland which is leading to an alarming increase in Ambazonia fatalities.

By Isong Asu

Commonwealth Games: Competitors and delegates from Cameroon have been reported missing

15, August 2022

Commonwealth Games: Competitors and delegates from Cameroon have been reported missing 0

A total of 17 people connected to the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games have been reported missing since the event got underway, police have confirmed.

The Games, which have been widely viewed as a resounding success, got underway on July 28. But the enthralling fortnight has been tainted by 13 athletes, and four others who were part of the individual teams, being reported to authorities as missing people.

Police are currently working with immigration officials to ensure the welfare and safety of those who have been located. A force spokesperson said: “We’ve received a total of 17 missing people reports from visiting Commonwealth Games delegations – 13 competitors and four other delegation members.

Competitors and delegates from Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Cameroon, Ghana and Botswana have been reported missing since the 2022 Games got underway in Birmingham.

Previously, Sri Lankan team spokesperson Gobinath Sivarajah revealed that some of the missing competitors were also members of the country’s armed forces. They included a male judo manager, a female judo athlete, two male wrestlers, three boxers, two male beach volleyball players and a female wrestler.

Source: The Mirror

Kenya set to learn outcome of tight election race

15, August 2022

Kenya set to learn outcome of tight election race 0

Kenya is expected Monday to learn the outcome of its closely-fought presidential election after a long wait for results that has put the nation on edge.

Deputy President William Ruto was leading with slightly more than 51 percent of the vote against 48 percent for Raila Odinga, based on official results from more than 80 percent of constituencies, according to a tally published by the Daily Nation newspaper.

At church services on Sunday in the largely Christian country, both men had appealed for calm as the wait for final results of the August 9 vote dragged on.

Polling day passed off largely peacefully in the East African political and economic powerhouse, but memories of vote-rigging and deadly violence in 2007-08 and 2017 still loom large.

And the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) is under intense pressure to deliver a clean poll in a country regarded as a beacon of stability in a troubled region.

Results must be issued by the end of Tuesday at the latest, according to Kenya’s constitution.

“I am ready for whatever outcome. Whether it is Ruto or Raila we must move on. We have waited for too long,” said Livingstone Wabwire, 27, a shoe shiner in downtown Nairobi.

Disenchantment

Ruto, 55, is deputy president but effectively ran as challenger after outgoing President Uhuru Kenyatta threw his support behind his former foe Odinga, the 77-year-old veteran opposition leader making his fifth bid for the top job.

Kenyans voted in six elections to choose a new president as well as senators, governors, lawmakers, women representatives and some 1,500 county officials.

Kenyatta, the 60-year-old son of the first post-independence president, has served two terms and could not run again.

The winner of the presidential race needs to secure 50 percent plus one vote and at least a quarter of the votes in 24 of Kenya’s 47 counties.

If not, the country will be forced to hold a runoff within 30 days of the original vote.

Observers say that with the race so close, an appeal to the Supreme Court by the losing candidate is almost certain, meaning it could be many weeks before a new president takes office.

Turnout on polling day was lower than expected at around 65 percent of Kenya’s 22 million registered voters, compared with about 78 percent in the last election in 2017.

Observers blamed disenchantment with the political elite, particularly among young people in a country battling a severe cost- of-living crisis and a punishing drought that has left millions hungry.

‘At breaking point’

Lawyer David Mwaure — one of the four presidential candidates along with former spy George Wajackoyah — conceded on Sunday, endorsing Ruto, whose party won a key gubernatorial race when Johnson Sakaja secured control of Nairobi, Kenya’s capital and richest city.

The Star newspaper on Monday said “public anxiety” over the election results was at “breaking point.”

But, it noted, Kenyans had conducted themselves peacefully during and after the election with no significant incidents reported.

“The will of the people is supreme. We must all accept and respect that decision despite the pain of loss,” it said in an editorial.

The IEBC had faced sharp criticism over its handling of the August 2017 poll, which in a historic first for Africa was annulled by the Supreme Court after Odinga challenged the outcome.

Dozens of people were killed in the chaos that followed the election, with police brutality blamed for the deaths.

Kenyatta went on to win the October rerun after a boycott by Odinga.

The worst electoral violence in Kenya’s history occurred after a disputed vote in 2007, when more than 1,100 people were killed in bloodletting between rival tribes.

Source: AFP

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