Headline News

18, September 2018

Boko Haram kills kidnapped midwife ⁰

Boko Haram militants have killed a midwife who was kidnapped in an attack in remote northeast Nigeria more than six months ago, the Red Cross said on Monday. The humanitarian agency condemned the “tragic killing” of Saifura Hussaini Ahmed Khorsa, who was abducted in Rann, in the far north of Borno state, on March 1. “We are devastated by the murder of our colleague Saifura,” said Eloi Fillion, the head of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) delegation in Abuja.

No details were given about the circumstances of her death but the ICRC called on the Islamists to release another midwife and nurse still being held. “There is no ideology or religious law that could justify doing any harm to them,” said Fillion. The UN’s humanitarian coordinator in Nigeria, Edward Kallon, said “the killing of Ms. Hussaini, a young, dedicated and passionate midwife and humanitarian, is a cowardly, heinous and despicable act”. “This incident demonstrates the severe challenges that Nigeria continues to face,” he added.

Humanitarian work was suspended in March after Boko Haram attacked Rann, killing three aid workers and eight Nigerian soldiers. The announcements by the ICRC and the UN are the first public news about the women since they were kidnapped.

Rann is a remote town on the border with Cameroon where more than 60,000 people who have fled from Boko Haram jihadists depend on emergency food aid and medical care to survive. The Islamist group has intensified attacks in recent months, with the violence spilling over into neighbouring Chad, Niger and Cameroon. The jihadists have increasingly turned to kidnapping for ransom as a way to finance their operations and win back key commanders in prisoner swaps with the Nigerian government.

www.vanguardngr.com

18, September 2018

Armed Men Attack Saint Joseph’s College Sasse ⁰

Armed men have reportedly attacked Saint Joseph’s College Sasse in the Fako County, wounding more than 20 people. An unknown number of armed men, using machetes and homemade guns, staged the attack on Saint Joseph’s College Sasse late Sunday, according to the Francophone governor Bernard Okalia Bilai. No one was killed, he said.

It is still unclear whether the attacks were carried out by Southern Cameroons separatists or armed militia sponsored by the Minister of Territorial Administration, Paul Atanga Nji. The wounded children were rushed to hospitals and hundreds of parents started pulling their children from schools.

“It is a terrible situation. We are not safe at home, our children not safe at school,” said Enanga Luisy, a mother of two students. At least half a dozen schools in Buea have asked parents to take home their children.

Last month, armed separatists used social media to warn parents against sending their children to school. The government, however, assured the parents it had taken enough security measures to protect the schools.

The violence comes weeks ahead of Cameroon’s Oct. 7 presidential elections that separatists say should not take place. At least 70 schools have been torched since a crisis began in Cameroon’s English-speaking northwest and southwest areas in 2016 when teachers and lawyers protested the overbearing use of the French language in the bilingual country.

Separatists then took up the cause, arming themselves and demanding a separate English-speaking state they call Ambazonia. More than 3000 people, including soldiers and police, have been killed in mounting violence since.

Thousands have been fleeing from the northwest and southwest areas but the government is urging them to return saying their security is assured.

Camcordnews with files from (AP)

17, September 2018

France: Macron sparks Marie-Antoinette jibe after jobless remark ⁰

French President Emmanuel Macron has sparked criticism over comments to an unemployed man deemed insensitive. But is it really possible, as he claimed, to find a job in a Parisian restaurant just by crossing the street?

Welcoming the public to the presidential palace on Saturday as part of an open-doors event, Macron got talking to a 25-year-old who said he was having no luck finding work as a gardener. “I send resumes and cover letters, they don’t lead to anything,” he told Macron, in a clip that quickly went viral.

Macron advised him to head to the bustling Montparnasse neighbourhood of Paris, saying he could find a job as a waiter in the blink of an eye. “If you’re willing and motivated, in hotels, cafes and restaurants, construction, there’s not a single place I go where they don’t say they’re looking for people,” he said.

“If I crossed the street I’d find you one.” The exchange ended with a handshake, but provided instant ammunition for leftist critics of Macron, a former investment banker, accusing him of being patronising and out of touch with ordinary people.

The Liberation daily went so far as to draw a comparison with the supposed suggestion by France’s last queen, Marie-Antoinette, that if the poor had no bread they should eat cake instead.

After several previous headline-grabbing encounters with members of the public, including telling off a teenager for not calling him “Mr President”, the paper advised Macron to stop “lecturing everyone”.

Elected in May 2017 on a promise to reinvigorate a sluggish economy, unemployment has yet to budge much under Macron’s pro-business policies. He is keen to encourage people to move between sectors to bring joblessness down from its current rate of 9.1 percent.

But Liberation accused Macron of “a purely technocratic vision under which if there are vacant jobs all you need to do is stick job-seekers in them, regardless of their training, their situation, or what they want to do with their lives.

“Blaming (job-seekers for their unemployment) in the style of Marie-Antoinette, that’s what is weighing this presidency down,” it concluded.

– ‘Turning customers away’ –

Yet some have sprung to Macron’s defence over his advice to the gardener, pointing out that France does indeed have a surplus of low-skilled jobs in the construction and restaurant industries.

Industry officials say there are up to 100,000 hotel and restaurant jobs that need filling in France, and have even called on Macron to grant legal status to more illegal immigrants to help cover the shortage.

Montparnasse, a commercial district whose bistrots were once favoured hangouts for the likes of Ernest Hemingway, is indeed packed with restaurants.

Many of their managers say they are chronically short-staffed, suffering high turnover due to high pressure and unsociable hours.

“We sometimes have to refuse customers or groups because we don’t have enough workers,” said the maitre d’ at La Rotonde, the upmarket restaurant where Macron celebrated winning the first round of the presidential election. Declining to give his name, he added however that the restaurant was selective in its hiring.

“We’re looking for serious people. They have to want to work,” he said. Jose Vicente, a waiter at the nearby Kibaloma cafe, said “absolutely”, restaurant jobs were available, although contrary to Macron’s words “you can’t just cross the road to find one”.

“Not everyone is cut out for it,” said Vicente, who has been waiting tables for 30 years. Those who turn up looking for work are usually aspiring dish-washers — mostly immigrants who “don’t have qualifications and don’t speak French properly”, Vicente said.

The latest controversy comes as Macron’s ratings have slumped, weighed down by a scandal over a former bodyguard and with economic growth set to come in at a lower-than-expected 1.6 percent this year. A Kantar Sofres Onepoint poll released Monday found only 19 percent had a positive view of the president.

Source: France 24

17, September 2018

Mass Exodus Underway From Southern Cameroons ⁰

People fleeing the violence in the English-speaking regions of Cameroon are going through systematic searches before being allowed to enter the French-speaking regions of the central African state after the government claimed fighters were trying to enter with weapons.

It is very busy here at the Mile 17 bus station in the English speaking Southwestern town of Buea, where at least 30 transport buses leave daily for either the French-speaking town of Douala, or Cameroon’s capital city, Yaounde. Many people remain at the station, some with their mattresses, dresses and kitchen utensils, expecting more buses to arrive and transport them.

Gabriel Mbinkar, an official of a bus agency says they have doubled fares from $8 to $16 because their vehicles return from the French-speaking towns empty, since many people are fleeing English-speaking towns and villages and no one is coming in.

“As you will see behind me passengers are there, waiting for vehicles, the vehicles that were there this morning are already gone and we are trying to see what is available if it can get these people by the latter hours of the day so that they can go out in order for people not to fall into trouble,” said Mbinkar.

Among those leaving is businesswoman Philomena Maloke. She says the military searched her luggage and that of her two-month-old daughter at least seven times between Kumba, her town of origin and Buea where she arrived Saturday to continue to Yaounde.

“It is a pity that it is happening here in our country,” she said.

Bernard Okalia Bilai, governor of the English-speaking Southwest region of Cameroon visited the Mile 17 motor park Saturday to plead with people to stop the mass exodus.

Governor Bernard Okalia Bilai guarded by military pleads with people not to leave, assuring them of their safety.

He says people are running away because of threats from separatist fighters to disrupt the October 7 presidential election, and because of rumors the military is planning raids against the armed separatists that invaded many towns in the region.

“There is fake news that the army will attack, will launch an attack, no, the army is not launching attacks,” said Bilai. “The army are there to protect the population and their property. Those who are abandoning their homes, you can see here, we have beds, furniture, no, where are they going. No, we want them to stay at home.”

Military protecting government officials visiting Lebialem in South Western Cameroon, Sept. 15, 2018

The governor of Cameroon’s English-speaking Northwest, Deben Tchoffo, says thousands are also leaving his region. He says the military has seized weapons some suspected fighters were hiding in their luggage as they left for French-speaking towns. Tchoffo says he is making an appeal for every one travelling to verify their luggage to make sure traffickers are not hiding weapons in their bags.

“I will like to launch an appeal here to ask them to collaborate with security services. To denounce those that are threatening them to the security services, so that together, we fight to bring back the situation back to normalcy,” he said.

A bus attacked by armed separatist is seen at Akum, a village 10 Kilometers from Bamenda, the capital of the Cameroon's English speaking northwest region, Sept. 9, 2018. — A bus attacked by armed separatist is seen at Akum, a village 10 Kilometers from Bamenda, the capital of the Cameroon’s English speaking northwest region, Sept. 9, 2018.

Unrest began in Cameroon in November 2016 when English speaking teachers and lawyers demonstrated against the overbearing use of the French language. Separatists took over and started demanding the independence of the English speaking from the French-speaking regions of the bilingual country.

The separatists have on social media insisted that they will disrupt Cameroon’s October 7 presidential election in the English-speaking regions. They say they are an independent nation called Ambazonia and will not allow such an election in their land. The government is assuring the people of security.

The United Nations reports that 300 people including 130 policemen and the military have been killed, hundreds of thousands have fled for their lives to the bushes and towns in the French-speaking regions. At least 20,000 have crossed over to Nigeria.

Culled from the VOA

17, September 2018

October 7: A Biya Francophone Gun and ELECAM Box or A Biya’s paper victory amid a bloody war? ⁰

Campaigns for presidential elections scheduled for October 7, are currently underway and Southern Cameroonian fighters have vowed to disrupt an election they consider as foreign. While other candidates are on the ground canvassing for votes, the incumbent, Paul Biya has not been seen anywhere close to the voters.

Eight very dull and obedient politicians, three of them former Biya cabinet ministers and the others representing obscure political organizations known for harboring election losers – have all been added to the hitherto Biya one-man presidential voting list.

So when I asked the so-called Cameroon government spokesman and Minister of Communications, Issa Tchiroma Bakary, if there was any danger of Mr. Biya losing, he wisely replied: “This is up to the Cameroonian people.”

Ah indeed, the Cameroonian people. Crushed, humiliated, tortured, imprisoned, slaughtered, forever crying for freedom from a vicious regime. They have been invited to participate, at the height of their agony, in a counterfeit presidential election.

In this edition of the AGBAW-EBAI DEBATE we are asking our readers to make public their opinions as regards the upcoming presidential elections if it is “A Biya Francophone Gun and ELECAM Box or a Biya’s paper victory amid a bloody war?

By Soter Agbaw-Ebai

17, September 2018

Trump not to ‘survive’ Manafort testimony, says Obama’s ethics chief ⁰

US President Donald Trump will not “survive” the upcoming testimony by his former campaign chairman, Paul Manafort, says former President Barack Obama’s ethics chief.

Manafort has pleaded guilty and agreed to cooperate with special counsel Robert Mueller in his investigation into alleged collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia.

“He’s not going to survive Manafort’s testimony,” Norm Eisen told ABC on Sunday. “I think there’s a substantial possibility that this evidence that Manafort is offering will implicate somebody up the chain… Who is up the chain from Paul Manafort, who was the chair of the Trump campaign?”

Federal charges against Trump’s former campaign chairman include money laundering and lobbying for a pro-Russia group in Ukraine.

“This had absolutely nothing to do with the President or his victorious 2016 Presidential campaign,” White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said. “It is totally unrelated.”

There are also speculations that the Republican president would use his pardoning powers.

With the Cohen, and Manafort crisis gripping the White House, US President Donald Trump is denying any wrongdoing as the recent wave of pressure against his presidency is raising questions about his ability to continue his tenure.

“The pardon will only … hurt Trump,” Eisen said. “It will only dig the hole deeper.” Ever since Trump was inaugurated in January 2017, the US intelligence community has overwhelmingly maintained that Moscow sought to meddle in the 2016 election.

Russia has denied meddling in the 2016 election as well as being in possession of any damaging information on the US president.

17, September 2018

Outrage as jailed Southern Cameroons journalist’s health deteriorates ⁰

The deteriorating health condition of a Anglophone journalist jailed at the Kondengui maximum security prison in Yaounde has provoked anger and outrage among media men and women and the online community in Cameroon.

Pictures of Dzenyagha Thomas Awah Junior in his Kondengui cell emerged over the weekend showing the journalist in a dire condition which provoked widespread condemnation with some journalists launching the hashtag #FreeThomasAwah.

Arrested in Bamenda in January 2017, Thomas Awah, Publisher of the Aghem Voice was slammed an 11-year jail term for secession, amongst other charges on May 25, 2018.

The journalist who has a well-documented brain problem that has seen him undergo surgery on several occasions has always denied the charges and maintained he was arrested in the line on duty.

Several applications filed by his lawyer for a bail so he could undergo proper treatment have all been rejected as he languished in his cell.

Source: Journal du Cameroun

17, September 2018

Southern Cameroons Crisis: The monarch returns home with an empty begging bowl ⁰

Cameroon’s president, Paul Biya, also known as the monarch, is finally back to the nation’s capital, Yaoundé, after a stop-over in Switzerland for a quick health fix. Mr. Biya had travelled to China some two weeks ago for the Africa-China Summit where he was supposed to persuade Chinese businesses and investors to come and invest in his war-ravaged country. Mr. Biya has also been sucking up to the Chinese government, hoping that it will grant it some loans and grants. But the Chinese are not ready to pour their money into a dry hole.

The Biya government is noted for its recklessness and even the Chinese hold that it would be foolhardy to give huge amounts of money to a government that has constantly proven that it is incapable of managing its own affairs. While in China, Mr Biya and his entourage toured a plane manufacturing company and even signed an agreement for the purchase of a presidential jet.

But this jet will not be delivered anytime soon. Cameroon has not got the resources to make a huge down payment as requested by the Chinese. Cameroon is cash-strapped and with its economy bleeding money on a daily basis, it will be hard for the government to find the resources to meet its commitments vis-a-vis the Chinese.

The country’s traditional business partners are hastily pulling out of the country due to a brutal civil war in the two English-speaking regions which account for more than 60% of the country’s wealth. Mr. Biya and his government have been running the country like a private farm and he has been using the national treasury like his personal piggy bank. The conflict in his country has taken a turn for the worse, with many citizens fleeing the war zone.

Over the last week, residents of the two English-speaking regions have been leaving the place following threats by Southern Cameroonian fighters to implement a strict movement of goods and persons within the region from September 16, 2018 to October 7, 2018 as presidential elections approach.

It is generally held that Mr. Biya, considered by the ruling crime syndicate as its natural candidate, will not campaign but will emerge as the winner in an election that has already been rigged. Mr. Biya’s heart and prostate have been an issue to the 86-year-old who still wants to rule the country for the next seven years.

For 36 years, Mr. Biya had not built any world-class hospitals in his country, no good roads, and the country’s railway system has simply collapsed. For more than three decades, the narcissistic monarch has been using his country’s treasury as his personal ATM. When travelling abroad, Mr. Biya always has more than 50 persons in his entourage and all of these people are lodged in five-star hotels.

Besides, members of his entourage, the monarch also uses expensive escort services when he is abroad. His love for young girls is costing the country an arm and a leg. He has a Ghanaian doctor in Geneva who screens all the young ladies he uses to satisfy his carnal desires.

It is alleged that he dislikes preservatives that is why the ladies are thoroughly screened for HIV and other communicable diseases. Noted for his incompetence and manipulation, the monarch has plunged his country into a deep economic crisis and a long civil war that has already resulted in the killing of some 4,000 Cameroonians, including young army soldiers.

The Southern Cameroons crisis that started as a demonstration by teachers and lawyers has taken a turn for the worse. The adverse impact of the conflict is now spilling over into East Cameroon and this is a nightmare to government officials who are scared of a general revolt in East Cameroon.

Food and housing prices have gone up and many cities that are receiving these displaced persons do not have the proper infrastructure to deal with such a situation. According to a Douala City Hall official, the migration of Southern Cameroonians to the city of Douala is not only costly; it is also a major risk. He pointed out that among the displaced could be the fierce fighters who may use the situation to wreak havoc on innocent citizens in the city.

He regretted that the government was letting this situation to spiral out of control, adding that if immediate action was not taken, the entire country could become a war zone. According to a source close to the Unity palace, Mr. Biya is very disappointed with the Chinese. “The president looks a little rested. It appears he got the right care in Switzerland. However, he is not very happy with the Chinese,” he said. “He was expecting a huge chunk of money from the Chinese which could have helped to finance his campaign,” he added.

He pointed out that “with Western nations very reluctant to put any money into the hands of this regime, it will be hard for the government to carry out any meaningful projects.” “I think we are not yet out of the woods. Even if Mr. Biya is considered a winner in the upcoming election, this country will still face serious issues,” he stressed.

“With the conflict spiraling out of control, it is clear that Mr. Biya cannot handle the disaster that is playing out in the North West and South West regions. The situation is too big for him. He cannot handle it,” he said. “We have the worst roads in Africa and the unemployment rate is unacceptable. I am scared for our country. We are in for tough and rough times,” he said.

“We may not even have the money to comply the infrastructure we are developing for the upcoming AFCON. I am confused and so too are millions of Cameroonians. Which roads will national team supporters be using to support their teams which will be moving from town to town?”he quipped.

The source that elected anonymity questioned the president’s silence over the disaster playing out in the two English-speaking regions of the country, adding that the worst was yet to happen. “Many people have been killed and more than a thousand soldiers have died. At what point will the president step in to roll back this disaster?” he asked.

“Though the president is back home, I know he will soon be returning to Switzerland which more like home to him. His health is failing and we are all concerned. He will not be campaigning, but he will win. The election has already been rigged in his favor,” he said.

While the monarch is back, nobody is sure that something positive will happen. Mr. Biya knows he is on his way out, but he wants to take the country down with him. The world has to intervene if it does not want Cameroon to be another “Rwanda”. Biya has failed Cameroon and if he stays on for seven more years, the country will surely hit the bottom of the abyss.

By Kingsley Betek in Yaounde
A Cameroon Concord News Group Production

16, September 2018

Biya regime intercepts families from fleeing war-torn Southern Cameroons ⁰

Local authorities in Southwest, one of the two crisis-hit English-speaking regions of Cameroon, on Saturday stopped families from relocating to French-speaking side of the country.

“We are not stopping them from travelling but those who are about leaving their homes you can see luggage here including furniture, beds. Where are they going? We want them to stay at home. The security and defence forces will guarantee their security,” the region’s governor, Bernard Okalia Bilia, told reporters after intercepting luggage-bearing buses from travelling.

The governor’s decision was taken after people began departing from the troubled region in large numbers following threats from armed separatist forces that circulation of vehicles will be stopped ahead of the Oct. 7 presidential poll.

The separatists have threatened to disrupt the election but Bilia said adequate measures have been taken to ensure a hitch-free vote.

Since November last year, government forces have been clashing with armed separatists in the Northwest and Southwest, the two Anglophone regions of the country where about 80 percent of population are native in French.

The armed separatist forces have declared an independent state in the two regions called “Ambazonia.”

According to the United Nations, over 180,000 people have been displaced internally and at least 30,000 have escaped to Nigeria where they now live in refugee camps.

Source:Xinhua

16, September 2018

SOBA UK President given a hero’s welcome in Ireland,Says UK Convention will be at Hilton, St. George’s Park ⁰

Several members of the Sasse Old Boys Association in the Irish Republic queued at the Dublin International Airport and gave a hero’s welcome on Saturday to the veteran leader of SOBA UK and members of his delegation. The Dublin airport reception was a display of SOBA Ireland’s support, independence and alumni culture to the responsible leadership of SOBA UK.

A key figure in the Soban community in the Diaspora, Akoh Arrey, has spent more than a decade building SOBA UK including solid partnerships with SOBA Germany, Ireland and the United States. He was elected president of the association in 2014 and he is credited with helping to develop a welfare scheme that has been beneficial to all Sobans in the UK.

Addressing members of the SOBA Ireland family on Saturday the 15^th of September, President Akoh Arrey said ,”We are delighted to announce the SOBA UK Residential Convention which will take place from the 21st to 23rd September 2018. The Gala night will be on Saturday 22nd September 2018 at The Hilton, St George’s Park in Burton Upon Trent. Last year, we had a very successful Convention at Dunchurch Park, Rugby, Warwickshire which continued to set high standards for SOBA UK.”

The SOBA UK leader added that “This year we are going to the splendid venue at The Hilton, St George’s Park, Burton Upon Trend. This is the Home of England National Teams befitting of a World Cup year, which saw the England National Football Team make it to the last 4 teams in the World Cup football tournament. We believe that Sobans, their families and guests will have a fantastic time in such a wonderful venue.”

Cameroon Concord News Group understands that the theme of this year’s SOBA UK Convention is “Together We Succeed“, a reflection on the difficult year the association and people have had both in the UK and Cameroon. The focus will also be on the crisis in the Northwest and Southwest regions in Cameroon which has led to thousands of people being displaced and significant loss of lives. SOBA UK will be looking to assist where possible and will also be seeking support from the public.

For his part, President Charles Eyombo thanked Akoh Arrey for his support to SOBA Ireland over the years and assured SOBA UK of SOBA Ireland’s participation in the up coming Residential Convention. SOBA UK President was accompanied to Dublin by Chief Batey the current Financial Secretary and the much respected SOBA UK patron in the person of Hon. Francis Suppo.

By Soter Agbaw-Ebai in Dublin