Headline News

14, September 2018

Biya Francophone regime vows ‘calm’ election despite Southern Cameroons war ⁰

Cameroon’s government vowed Wednesday that next month’s presidential election will be peaceful and voting will take place nationwide, despite mounting bloodshed in the central African country’s restive anglophone regions.

“The October 7 presidential election will be held in a calm and serene environment throughout our country,” minister of territorial administration Paul Atanga Nji said on state radio, citing reports by regional governors.

Cameroon’s two minority English-speaking regions — the North-West and South-West — have been hit by almost daily acts of violence that have left more than a hundred people dead and about 200,000 displaced since late 2016.

The anglophone separatists have said that voting will not take place in the two regions next month.

“The head of state has instructed the governors to take the necessary measures to ensure that the election goes ahead in all of Cameroon’s 360 districts,” Atanga Nji said after meeting with the governors of the country’s 10 regions on Monday and Tuesday.

He added that President Paul Biya had instructed the governors to “ensure the protection of all the candidates”.

Years of resentment at perceived discrimination at the hands of Cameroon’s majority French speakers led to anglophone militants making a symbolic declaration of independence last October 1, which led to a government crackdown.

Since the start of the crisis, a total of 109 members of the police and security forces have been killed, according to government figures.

Even the start of the school year was marred by violence earlier this month, with the separatists calling for a boycott. Several teachers and students were abducted and one teacher was killed in Bamali in the North-West.

In the October poll, eight candidates will run against the 85-year-old incumbent Biya, who has ruled the country for 35 years and is seeking a seventh straight term in office.

(AFP)

13, September 2018

Yaounde wants Facebook to help fight fake news ⁰

The government of Cameroon has solicited the services of Facebook to help fight the spread of fake news and hate speech, especially during the upcoming presidential election.

A team from the American online social media and social networking service company has been holding meetings and trainings with stakeholders in Cameroon.

Meanwhile, a two-day symposium on digital rights and elections in Cameroon ends Thursday in Yaoundé.

The rights

The meeting that has brought together different stakeholders was seeking collaboration in the fight against online misinformation during electoral periods without undermining the rights of Internet users.

There were growing fears that the Cameroon government would cut off the Internet, at least to the crisis-hit English speaking northwest and Southwest, during the October 7 presidential poll.

Though the Post and Telecommunications ministry dismissed fears of an imminent Internet blockade as “sheer manipulation and fake news”, critics took the rebuttal with a pinch of salt.

The blackouts

Cameroon has witnessed at least two Internet cuts since January last year with government saying the blackouts aimed at preventing the spread of hate speech and fake news via the social media.

But activists say shutting the Internet was an infringement on the rights of citizens and that the government could adopt other measures to fight against online misinformation without undermining the rights of Internet users.

Culled from The East African

13, September 2018

Do you know that a volcanic eruption in Southern Cameroons once killed over 1700 people? ⁰

On the deadly night of August 21, 1986, a strange and mysterious natural disaster took place at one of the most interesting lakes in Africa — Lake Nyos.

Lake Nyos is not an ordinary lake. It is a crater lake — a lake formed atop a volcanic crater in northwest Cameroon. Though it is one of the most unforgettable tourist attractions in Cameroon, the areas surrounding the lake are deserted as settlers were moved far away from it.

What exactly happened?

Before the 21st, Lake Nyos was a beautiful blue lake with picturesque surroundings.

What the villagers settled around it did not know was that CO2 leaks deep below the lake. On that unfateful day, the water became saturated with the gas and a frothy spray shot hundreds of feet out of the lake, and a white cloud of carbondioxide collected over the water and flowed across the land. The cloud grew to 100 meters tall and moved up to 25 kilometres away from the lake, into the villages of Cha, Nyos and Subum.

The gas cloud displaced all the air, quietly suffocating an estimated 1,746 people and 3,500 livestock.

A volcanic eruption in Cameroon once killed over 1700 people (Imgur)

This disaster lasted for two days, leaving everywhere dead silent, and by Aug. 23, most of the cloud had blown away. After being unconscious for up to 36 hours, few people revived to find, horrifically, that their family members, neighbours and livestock were dead. They found no disturbances, no violence – just corpses. Even the flies had dropped dead. The lake had even lost its signature blue hue and all that was left was a brown rust colour.

A volcanic eruption in Cameroon once killed over 1700 people (Volcano world)

One survivor, Joseph Nkwain from Subum, described himself when he awoke after the gases had struck:

“I could not speak. I became unconscious. I could not open my mouth because then I smelled something terrible … I heard my daughter snoring in a terrible way, very abnormal … When crossing to my daughter’s bed … I collapsed and fell. I was there till nine o’clock in the (Friday) morning … until a friend of mine came and knocked at my door … I was surprised to see that my trousers were red, had some stains like honey. I saw some … starchy mess on my body. My arms had some wounds … I didn’t really know how I got these wounds … I opened the door … I wanted to speak, my breath would not come out … My daughter was already dead … I went into my daughter’s bed, thinking that she was still sleeping. I slept till it was 4:30 p.m. in the afternoon … on Friday. (Then) I managed to go over to my neighbours’ houses. They were all dead … I decided to leave … (because) most of my family was in Wum … I got my motorcycle … A friend whose father had died left with me (for) Wum … As I rode … through Nyos I didn’t see any sign of any living thing … (When I got to Wum), I was unable to walk, even to talk … my body was completely weak.”

Now, the government has put in preventive measures like the 3 degassing pumps in the lake although the settlers have still not returned. Till date, Lake Nyos and the surrounding land in northwest Cameroon still seem to be completely dead with no sign of birds or any other animals.

Source: Pulse.ng

13, September 2018

Southern Cameroons Crisis: Nigerian Governor raises alarm over influx of Ambazonian refugees ⁰

Gov. Ben Ayade of Cross River has raised alarm over the increasing number of Cameroonian refugees in the state following the arm struggle and demand of Ambazonia Republic in Cameroon. Governor Ben Ayade said this when the President of the Senate, Dr Bukola Saraki, paid him a courtesy visit in Calabar on Wednesday. The Senate President was in Cross River to solicit delegates support for his presidential aspiration.

Ayade told Saraki that Cross River was currently facing security challenges with the discovery of 27 illegal routes used by the Cameroonians to gain access into the state. “With the recent Ambazonia crisis, a lot of tension has been created in the state. It is so bad that as of today, Cross River has over 4,000 Cameroonian refugees. “We have about seven camps where we are keeping these refugees and over 27 illegal routes where these Cameroonians gain access into the state. “It is so bad that the arm struggle has led to a situation where Cross River has become a recruitment ground for mercenary to prosecute the war in Cameroon,’’ he said.

He commended Saraki for coming out to seek for the office of the president, adding that he had the capacity to lead Nigeria to a greater height. Earlier, Saraki said that Nigeria needed a digital president abreast with the new world social order. According to him, Nigeria desires a government that is private sector inclusive, and the time for Nigeria to witness a dynamic leadership is now. “I am in Cross River to solicit delegates support in the forthcoming presidential primaries of the People’s Democratic Party. “I have the intellectual ability and capacity to rule Nigeria and that is why I am soliciting the support of all Nigeria to achieve this aim,’’ he said. (NAN)

13, September 2018

France-Afrique: Macron admits systematic use of torture in Algeria war ⁰

France has admitted that it instigated a “system” that led to torture during Algeria’s independence war in the 1950s and 1960s as it comes to grips with its long-suppressed legacy of colonial crimes.

President Emmanuel Macron will also announce “the opening of archives on the subject of disappeared civilians and soldiers, both French and Algerian,” the Elysee Palace said in a statement on Thursday.

“A general dispensation, by ministerial decree, will be granted so that everyone — historians, families, associations — can consult the archives for all those who disappeared in Algeria,” the statement read. “We’re putting the issue of the missing in the center.”

According to the statement, Macron will formally acknowledge that mathematician Maurice Audin who disappeared in 1957 “died under torture stemming from the system instigated while Algeria was part of France.”

Audin was 25 when he was arrested at his home by French paratroopers on accusations of harboring armed members of the Algerian Communist Party.

Audin, an assistant professor at the University of Algiers, was tortured repeatedly in a villa in the Algiers neighborhood of El Biar. His widow Josette was told 10 days later that the mathematician had escaped while being transferred between jails.

This remained the official version of events until 2014, when Macron’s predecessor Francois Hollande acknowledged that Audin died in detention.

Macron sparked controversy on the campaign trail last year by declaring that France’s colonization of Algeria was a “crime against humanity”. He later walked back the comments, calling for “neither denial nor repentance” over France’s colonial history.

“We cannot remain trapped in the past,” he said.

Macron has shown a rare willingness to wade into the memory of Algeria, arguably the most sensitive chapter in the French experience of the 20th century.

Reacting to the latest development, historian Sylvie Thenault wrote on the Conversation news website that the French state’s acknowledgement that Audin’s death resulted from a “system” pointed to a broader recognition of wrongdoing.

“Through recognition of the state’s responsibilities in the disappearance of Maurice Audin, have the state’s responsibilities in all disappearances in Algiers in 1957 not been recognized?”

During the 1954-62 war, French forces brutally cracked down on independence fighters in the colony ruled by Paris for 130 years, which claimed some 1.5 million Algerian lives.

The French state has never previously admitted that its military forces routinely used torture during the war.

Algerians each year remember May 8, 1945 as a day France initiated a campaign of carnage, known as Setif massacres.

They marked French police firing on a parade celebrating the end of the war. Ensuing riots left 140 French colonists killed, provoking a hugely disproportionate response.

A two-week spree of murder, rape and mutilation and the bombing of Algerian towns led to the deaths of tens of thousands people, according to some accounts.

Conquered by France in 1837, Algeria was a colony. By the 1950s, it was home to millions of French settlers.

In 2014, former President Hollande formally apologized for a similar massacre in Senegal.

Source: Presstv

13, September 2018

Gunman kills five in ‘new normal’ shootings in California ⁰

A gunman in the US state of California shot and killed six people, including himself and his wife, in a mass shooting that police say has become the “new normal” across the country.

The unidentified man went with his wife to a trucking company in Bakersfield, California, where he shot and killed a man and then turned his gun on his spouse, killing her, Kern County Sheriff Donny Youngblood told a news conference on Wednesday.

He then chased another man from the trucking company before he shot and killed him in front of a nearby sports store.

The gunman then went to a home where he shot and killed a man and a woman, the sheriff said.

He killed himself shortly afterwards after being confronted by a sheriff’s deputy, Youngblood said.

“This is the new normal, if you look across this country,” Youngblood said, describing the incident as a mass shooting.

“Obviously, these are not random shootings,” he added. “Six people lost their lives in a very short period of time.”

Authorities were working to determine “why this started and why so many players were involved and the connection because obviously these are not random shootings,” Youngblood said.

The United States loses around 33,000 people to gun violence every year. Additionally, more than 100,000 people are shot each year in the country at a total cost of $45 billion, according to a study published in the journal Health Affairs.

Amnesty International said in a scathing report Wednesday that the gun violence situation in the United States has grown into a full blown “human rights crisis” amid inaction from the US government.

The report said “all aspects of American life have been compromised in some way by the unfettered access to guns, with no attempts at meaningful national regulation.”

“The US government is prioritizing gun ownership over basic human rights. While many solutions have been offered, there has been a stunning lack of political will to save lives,” said Margaret Huang, executive director of Amnesty International USA.

“Our government has allowed gun violence to become a human rights crisis,” she said.

The issue of gun violence has become all the more polarizing under President Donald Trump, a Republican whose presidential campaign was funded partially by the National Rifle Association (NRA).

Trump has been reluctant to address the growing issue in his speeches and following several high-profile mass shootings in the country.

Source: Presstv

13, September 2018

African Development Bank’s Board approves Policy on Non-Sovereign Operations ⁰

The Board of Directors of the African Development Bank Group (www.AfDB.org) has approved the Bank’s Policy on Non-sovereign Operations (NSO). The document provides the framework within which the Bank through its private sector lending window may provide financing or investment without sovereign guarantees to private and public entities that meet specific eligibility requirements on non-concessional terms.

Non-sovereign Operations (NSOs) refers to financing and investment operations that are not guaranteed by a State, covering mostly private sector transactions. They also cover non-sovereign guaranteed financing of eligible public sector enterprises, as well as financing of regional development finance institutions.

The approval of the Policy comes at a critical moment when the Bank is seeking to accelerate inclusive and sustainable economic growth, and crowd in more private sector funding for strong and inclusive growth to drive economic transformation and sustainable development in its Regional Member Countries (RMCs).

The NSO Policy will complement the Bank’s overarching 2013 Private Sector Development policy framework, notably, by defining what the Bank will do in the area of non-sovereign lending. Within this context, the objective of the Bank’s non-sovereign operations is to help accelerate the continent’s transformation through various financial support mechanisms and products including loans, lines of credit, guarantees, blended finance, equity investments and trade finance. This would enable the Bank to contribute to the sustainable economic growth and inclusive social development of its RMCs individually and jointly, in fulfilment of the Bank’s mandate.

More specifically, the Bank’s engagement in its selected non-sovereign operations will aim to maximise the catalytic impact of its limited resources, while seeking to promote inclusive growth and the gradual transition to ‘green growth’ in its RMCs. It will also help scale up financing in the Bank’s High 5 priority areas of intervention.

Under this NSO Policy, the Bank would provide financing to non-sovereign operations subject to four conditions: (i) the borrower is a private enterprise or an eligible public sector enterprise; (ii) the operations are financially sound; (iii) the operations should result in satisfactory development outcomes, including supporting or creating opportunities for private sector development; and (iv) the Bank brings additionally, which could be either financial or non-financial.

The Policy would ensure that NSOs: (i) are well-prepared with clear value added/additionally brought by the Bank; (ii) are technically, economically and financially sound, and diligently managed, adhering to high ethical norms; (iii) are environmentally and socially sustainable; and (iv) have solid prospects of generating significant development results in the RMCs in which they are implemented.

The NSO Policy does not apply to the Bank’s sovereign loans and sovereign-guaranteed loans. Such operations will continue to be governed by the relevant policies that guide the Bank Group’s public sector operations.

Distributed by APO Group on behalf of African Development Bank Group (AfDB)

13, September 2018

Nigeria’s 2019 polls: Buhari submits party forms, slams PDP’s 16 years ⁰

Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari has submitted party nomination forms seeking as he officially kick starts a bid to secure a second and final term in charge of Africa’s most-populous nation.

Buhari was at the Abuja headquarters of the All Progressives Congress, APC, to file his nomination papers. The party has yet to slate a date for the contest to become flag-bearer even though Buhari is expected to be retained unopposed.

The septuagenarian in 2015 became the first opposition candidate in Nigerian history to defeat a current president. Buhari beat the then incumbent Goodluck Jonathan in his fourth shot at the presidency.

He had on Tuesday received nomination forms which were bought for him by some benevolent Nigerians. He tasked the APC members to eschew complacency and do all it takes to retain power come February 2019.

“Today I put my name forward to my party, the All Progressives Congress, seeking nomination to contest the Presidential Elections next year. I assure party members and all Nigerians that, if nominated and if elected, I shall continue to serve you to the best of my ability.

“Let me today appeal to party members not to be complacent but to prepare, strategize and win in 2019 elections. We must not allow those who brought the country to its knees from 1999 to 2015 to come and take us back,” he wrote on Twitter.

Buhari was elected on a promise to defeat Boko Haram, resuscitate a slumping economy and fight corruption.

His scorecard remains mixed as security continues to be a headache especially against insurgent group Boko Haram. A mid-year spate of communal killings have also all but subsided.

A proportion of Nigerians still suffering from the repercussions of the 2015 economic recession remain disenchanted. His first term was also marked by a serious illness, not revealed to the general public, which forced him to spend months in London for treatment.

His opponents accuse him of having autocratic tendencies.

Former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar and Senate Leader Bukola Saraki who both defected from the APC to the main opposition Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, have declared interest to unseat Buhari.

Source: Africa News

13, September 2018

Yaounde: Biya Francophone regime orders arrest/kidnap of Ambazonian leaders abroad ⁰

Ambazonian Acting President Dr. Samuel Ikome Sako, Communications Secretary Chris Anu including the former leaders of the Southern Cameroons struggle Mark Bareta, Tapang Ivo, and John Mbah Akuroh, are amongst those targeted by the Biya Francophone Beti Ewondo regime in Yaoundé.

According to a facsimile of an unverifiable order purportedly issued by the National Police boss, Mbarga Nguele, Cameroon ambassadors in the countries concerned have been directed to leverage support of the international police (INTERPOL) to enforce the directive with the utmost urgency and secrecy; suggesting, some activists might be secretly kidnapped where possible or summarily executed by hit men paid by the regime.

“The press release appears to be an act of desperation, but if Biya thinks western countries are Banana republics like Nigeria, then he is mistaken. Any attempt to arrest, kidnap let alone assassinate any Ambazonia activists abroad, without due process, will obviously spark the beginning of the end of the regime” noted our contributing editor in the USA.

The Diaspora has been financing the war and the fighters on the ground have been giving the government a run for its money. So far, more than 1,000 army soldiers have been killed while it is estimated that some 3,000 civilians have been murdered by French Cameroun government troops.

The government’s strategy of collective punishment and the burning of home have not produced the desired results. On the contrary, they have been counterproductive. Many moderate Southern Cameroonians have been radicalized by the government’s strategy and this is making it hard for the soldiers to wrap up things militarily.

In a desperate move, the government has issued a warrant of arrest for many members of the Interim Government, including Dr. Sako Ikome and Mr. Chris Anu. The warrant, signed by the country’s national security chief, Martin Mbarga Nguele, urges all Cameroon embassies abroad to take appropriate measures and if possible kill those whose names feature on the warrant. The government seems to have been cornered. It is fighting with its back to the wall. A war it thought it could wrap up in a few weeks is unfortunately taking too long.

By Chi Prudence Asong and Kingsley Betek

12, September 2018

Southern Cameroons Crisis: Effects spill over into East Cameroon ⁰

The Southern Cameroons crisis which started as a demonstration by teachers and lawyers in Cameroon’s English-speaking regions is finally migrating to East Cameroon, as thousands flee Southern Cameroons following threats from Southern Cameroonian fighters to stage sporadic attacks on soldiers and punish civilians who have been cooperating with the Yaoundé government.

All major cities in Southern Cameroons have become beehives as helpless civilians struggle to find a safe place before the expiry of the deadline given by the fighters. Buea, Mamfe, Limbe, Bamenda and Kumba have all witnessed huge crowds struggling to leave, following warnings from Southern Cameroonian fighters that from September 16, 2018, all roads will be blocked and there will be no movement in the region.

More than half a million people have, on Wednesday, been seeking ways to leave the region as presidential elections scheduled for next month approach. Southern Cameroonian fighters have warned civilians in the two English-speaking regions not to participate in the elections as they are considered foreign and illegal.

It should be pointed out that Cameroon will be holding presidential elections next month and the incumbent is widely expected to win. Many analysts hold that much will not change in the country and the conflict tearing the country apart may only get worse if Mr. Biya wins the elections.

So far, the government has not issued any statements to reassure the fear-stricken population and local officials have been tight-lipped over the displacement of over half a million people in the region. Meanwhile, the fighting between restoration forces and army soldiers has intensified.

Over the last week, more than 200 civilians have been killed in the region, while some 50 army soldiers have been sent to an early grave by restoration forces. The government has been struggling to localize the Southern Cameroons crisis, but as the fighting intensifies, many people are seeking refuge in the French-speaking region of the country.

The mass movement of Southern Cameroonians into other parts of the country has resulted in escalating food and housing prices. The high living cost is keeping government officials in cities such as Yaoundé and Douala awake all night, as they fear that the increasing pressure might cause the cash-strapped Francophone population to rebel against the government.

The Southern Cameroons crisis has taken its toll on the country’s economy, with state corporations such CDC, the country’s second largest employer, laying off many of its workers. For the country’s lone oil refinery, SONARA, the times are getting tougher by the day. Southern Cameroonian fighters have their eyes on this corporation which they accuse of shipping their oil wealth to East Cameroon.

They also hold that the corporation is being managed by French-speaking Cameroonians whom they accuse of treating Southern Cameroonians with disdain. This has been one of the many sticking points in this conflict that will have a long lasting impact on the country for many decades.

The hardest hit is PAMOL. The palm oil producing company located in Ndian Division, has simply shut down operations and more than three thousand workers have been sent home, following disruption and threats by Southern Cameroonian fighters.

The country’s economy has taken a nosedive due to the disruption of economic activities in the two English-speaking regions of the country. It is estimated that the economy is losing more than CFAF 6 billion a day and the government needs more than CFAF 10 billion a day to prosecute the war that is not going to end anytime soon.

Meanwhile, the government is frustrated with what is happening in the northwest and southwest regions of the country. All attempts to bring things under control have failed. Its divide and rule tactics have failed and even money has not been able to douse the fire.

Earlier in the year, the government had thought that kidnapping and repatriating Southern Cameroonian leaders to Yaoundé would help weaken the rebellion that has successfully given the country a bad name. Though some 47 Southern Cameroonian leaders, including Sisiku Julius Ayuk Tabe, are in jail in Yaoundé, the insurgency has grown by leaps and bounds.

In a desperate move, the government has issued a warrant of arrest for many members of the Interim Government, including Dr. Sako Ikome and Mr. Chris Anu. The warrant, signed by the country’s national security boss, Martin Mbarga Nguele, urges all Cameroon embassies abroad to take appropriate measures and if possible kill those whose names feature on the warrant. The government seems to have been cornered. It is fighting with its back to the wall. A war it thought it could wrap up in a few weeks is unfortunately taking too long.

Cameroon is in a tight spot. The world cannot continue to play spectator to this unfortunate situation. Many lives have been ruined and the end is not in sight. While the country is bleeding, its leader, Paul Biya, is clearly missing in action. His incompetence, tribalism and nepotism have reduced a once prosperous economy to a living hell for many Cameroonians.

Mr. Biya who is the architect of the civil war spends most of his time out of the country due to his failing health. For 36 years he has not been able to build a state-of-the art hospital in Cameroon.

He is currently in China. Since going to China for the China-Africa Summit, Mr. Biya has not returned to a country whose economy is begging for an extreme makeover. The days ahead will be challenging for the country. The upcoming election may tip the country into political chaos. Mr. Biya is very unpopular, but he is intent on ruling the country again for seven more years.

Cameroonians are tired of Mr. Biya and his old cabinet. They know elections will not address the issues. Mr. Biya has never won an election and it is clear that he will rig the election to stay in power and this does not augur well for the country.

A victory for Mr. Biya will imply Cameroonians will have to put up with a civil war, unemployment and a rising wave of internally displaced persons. The world has to step in. Cameroon needs help. The killing has to stop, but it will not stop if Mr. Biya and his cohort continue to lord it over their people.

By Kingsley Betek