Headline News

21, April 2018

UN alarmed by continuing forced returns of Nigerians by Cameroon ⁰

UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, is today expressing its alarm at continuing forced returns to Nigeria of refugees and asylum-seekers from Cameroon’s Far North Region.

Despite UNHCR’s advocacy efforts and engagement with the authorities, 385 Nigerians have been forcibly returned from Cameroon since the beginning of 2018. The majority of them were returned during the last month.

More specifically, on 10 April, 160 Nigerian refugees and asylum-seekers were forcibly returned to Nigeria’s Borno state – an area whose residents continue to face risks. They had been seeking refuge in Cameroon’s Waza district since 2014.

On 17 April, an additional 118 asylum-seekers were forcibly returned to Borno state. They had arrived in Cameroon only two days earlier, having fled violence by Boko Haram.

The forced returns are in violation of the principle of no forced returns or non-refoulement. They are also a significant setback to progress previously achieved by Cameroon in granting asylum to Nigerian civilians fleeing Boko Haram violence in Borno State.

UNHCR appeals once again to the authorities in Cameroon to refrain from further forced returns and to ensure protection to those fleeing insecurity and persecution in Nigeria, in accordance with Cameroon’s national and international obligations. In total, UNHCR has registered some 87,600 Nigerian refugees in the country.

While recognizing the legitimate national security concerns of States affected by the Boko Haram crisis, it is important that refugee protection and national security are not seen as being incompatible. Properly functioning screening, registration and asylum systems help safeguard host country security.

UNHCR reiterates its support to the government of Cameroon to ensure that all those seeking international protection have access to efficient screening and registration procedures, as well as appropriate reception arrangements.

Source: UNHCR.org

20, April 2018

Villages Burn as Cameroon Troops Clash With Separatists ⁰

In Cameroon, officials say eight villages in the English-speaking northwest have been torched and hundreds of residents have fled amid clashes this week between security forces and separatist rebels.

Terence Fukah, a 33-year-old pig farmer, told VOA he fled his village of Ajin on Tuesday as the military responded to an attack by armed men.

“It was around five o’clock in the morning. I saw dead people lying down. I had to cross on top of them and run for my dear life,” Fukah said.

“I don’t even know where my children are. I don’t even know where my wife is. I don’t know how the pigs are doing, how many have died. I don’t know if my own house has been burned. I am crying, crying for the government to do something.”

The military says armed separatist rebels torched at least eight villages in northwest Cameroon; however, residents told VOA the fires were set by the military after the attackers had fled.

“We heard gunshots. We did not know exactly what to do. Everybody was running up and down,” said Thomas Tuboh, a maize farmer from the village of Anyajua. “It was the burning that made us to know our lives were at stake, so I decided to run away from Anyajua. When the military people invaded the area, the bridges were blocked and they decided to put them down with flames.”

He said his village is now nearly completely deserted.

“You see it is a farming area that helps the whole division and the region at large. I don’t know how we are going to cope if this persists,” Tuboh said.

General Agha Robinson, who is commanding troops in the northwest region, said his soldiers were not responsible for the burning.

The crisis began in November 2016 with a strike by Anglophone lawyers and teachers, who were demanding reforms to address what they say is the marginalization of the country’s English-speaking minority by French-speakers.

The situation spiraled into all-out conflict as separatists demanded independence for the two English-speaking regions.

Thirty-eight members of the military and hundreds of rebels have been killed in the fighting, according to Cameroon’s ministry of defense. The U.N. refugee agency says tens of thousands of people have fled their homes, with at least 20,000 crossing over to neighboring Nigeria in search of safety.

There appears to be little hope for dialogue. Separatists say they will not budge on secession. Meanwhile, Cameroon has refused to release dozens of detained separatist leaders, and President Paul Biya says he will entertain no talks that threaten national unity.

Source: VOA

20, April 2018

London: Chris Anu condemns attacks on Southern Cameroons civilians ⁰

The Communication Secretary of the Federal Republic of Ambazonia, Hon. Chris Anu, today used his first appearance before Southern Cameroonians in the UK to condemn every act of terror against Ambazonian civilians by French Cameroun army soldiers.

Addressing 100s of Southern Cameroonians gathered in London for a protest march during the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting, Chris Anu said the world expected from the Commonwealth a clear stance and firm answers regarding the atrocities of the Biya Francophone Beti Ewondo regime as well as with regard to respect for human rights.

Addressing the Southern Cameroons public, Mr Anu called for generous donations to the struggle saying if Ambazonians get tired of giving; French Cameroun troops will eventually exterminate everyone in the territory.

Chris Anu said French Cameroun orchestrated presidential, parliamentary and municipal elections will not hold in Southern Cameroons. Earlier before the protest march, Chris Anu told the BBC that there will be no negotiations until the Interim Head of State, Sisisku Ayuk Tabe and all those arrested due to the Southern Cameroons uprising gain their freedom.

“We are still suffering from the unjust curfew, siege and killings against our people,” said Chris Anu. He also addressed the members of the Southern Cameroons UK governing body who were present in London.

Cameroon Intelligence Report understands the US and the European Union have been seeking to delay presidential elections in Cameroon due to the crisis in Southern Cameroons, in the hope of winning Ambazonian agreement to accept President Biya’s Greek Gift of a Minister of Territorial Administration and Secondary Education.

By Soter Agbaw-Ebai with files from Sesekou Ashu Isong in London

20, April 2018

Southern Cameroons Crisis: British Foreign Secretary tells Philemon Yang peace is possible ⁰

British Foreign Secretary, Boris Johnson, has again stressed the need for the Biya regime to hold talks with the leadership of the Southern Cameroons revolution. The UK’s chief diplomat observed that there was an urgent need for dialogue in solving the political crisis in Southern Cameroons. Boris Johnson made public the position of Her Majesty’s Government during a meeting with Prime Minister Philemon Yang on the sidelines of the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) in London. The 85 year old President Biya was conspicuously absent.

Cameroon Concord News Group gathered that the London talks between the British Foreign Secretary and the Anglophone Prime Minister were frank, intensive and “productive”. Johnson pointed out that it was in Yaounde’s best interest to pursue dialogue and respect human rights.

When the Southern Cameroons crisis started in October 2016, few people thought it would last for a week. Very few even thought it would have an impact on the government. The two English-speaking regions were considered insignificant, especially as they only constitute 20% of the country’s population.

Senior government officials such as Laurent Esso and Jacques Fame Ndongo felt it was not even necessary to pay attention to the English-speaking minority. To the government, it had everything under control and if the population insisted on carrying through with its demands, then the government would stop at nothing to crush the English-speaking minority.

Mr. Fame Ndongo, who is the country’s higher education minister, is alleged to have compared the two regions to “two cubes of sugar” which could be easily melted in an ocean; with the ocean being the 80% Francophone majority. Little did he know that those “cubes of sugar” had stood the test of time and after 56 years of marginalization, the people of the North West and South West regions had had enough and were prepared to make their grievances known to the international community.

The fighting is ongoing, and it is getting nastier by the day, as government soldiers erase whole villages from the country’s map, a tactic it used to intimidate French-speaking freedom fighters popularly known as “Marquisards” in the 60s. These acts of violence do not seem to be producing the desired impact. Far from dissuading the determined Southern Cameroonian fighters, they are instead breeding revenge which is feeding the circle of violence that the government has triggered in the country.

Today, Cameroon government officials are gradually coming to terms with the fact that the two “cubes of sugar” will not easily melt. Instead of intimidating the fighters, the violence has now become a reason why the people of Southern Cameroons have to fight to the finish. They know the government is not willing to solve the problem and yielding to government pressure will only imply that they will have to go back to the status quo ante where they were regarded as second-class citizens.

By Chi Prudence Asong in London

20, April 2018

South Africa president cuts short UK visit amid unrest at home ⁰

South Africa’s President Cyril Ramaphosa has cut short his visit to Britain by a day to return home to deal with protests in the country’s North West Province, his office said on Thursday.

Protesters seeking jobs, better housing, roads, and hospitals frequently clash with police in a country faced with weak economic growth and near-record unemployment — but these are the first big demonstrations since Ramaphosa took power in February.

The unrest, dubbed “service delivery protests,” has mounted over the years.

The latest protests erupted on Wednesday, with residents demanding that the province’s Premier Supra Mahumapelo, a member of Ramaphosa’s ruling African National Congress Party, step down.

Ramaphosa called for calm, ordered police to exercise maximum restraint, and urged the aggrieved parties to express their grievances without resorting to violence.

He was due to return to South Africa on Friday from London, where he is leading a delegation to a Commonwealth summit.

South Africa’s President Cyril Ramaphosa (L) meets Britain’s Prime Minister Theresa May in London, April 17, 2017. (Photo by AFP)

“The president will return to Pretoria today, Thursday,” the president’s office said in a statement.

South African media reported that a bus was set alight, vehicles stoned, and roads blockaded by protesters calling for Mahumapelo to quit because of a failure to adequately deliver services.

Police fired teargas to disperse the crowds.

Botswana’s government said on Thursday it had closed exit points to South Africa’s North West Province, where the two countries share a border. The troubled province lies 300 km west of South Africa’s commercial hub Johannesburg.

(Source: Reuters)

20, April 2018

Syria hands unexploded US cruise missiles to Russia ⁰

Syria has handed over to Russia two unexploded cruise missiles it discovered in the aftermath of the recent attack by the United States, Britain and France, Syrian sources say.

“Two cruise missiles that did not detonate during the US missile strike on Syria overnight on April 14 were found by the Syrian military. Both are in rather good condition. These missiles were handed over to Russian officer the day before yesterday (April 17),” a source in the Syrian Defense Ministry told Russia’s TASS news agency on Thursday.

The Syrian military sent the missiles over on board a plane on Wednesday, the source added. The Russian Defense Ministry had yet to confirm the report.

On April 14, US President Donald Trump along with his French counterpart, Emmanuel Macron, and British Prime Minister Theresa May authorized a joint missile attack against alleged chemical weapons manufacturing sites inside Syria.

The attack, carried out in response to what the US and its allies insisted was a chemical attack by the Syrian government, saw 105 cruise missiles being fired at targets in Damascus and Homs.

It was not clear whether the discovered missiles were American Tomahawks or Scalp/Storm Shadow, codenames for a cruise missile jointly developed by France and the UK.

However, there is a good chance that the missiles were fired by the US military as the UK and France only fired 20 missiles collectively.

Days before the attack, Trump had warned Russia, a key supporter of Damascus in the war against foreign-backed militants, that it should get ready to shoot down “nice and new and smart” US missiles over Syria.

Despite claims by the US military that all missiles hit their targets, the Russian defense ministry said after the attack that 71 missiles were intercepted by Syria’s air defense, which relies on Russian equipment.

This is while none of the missiles landed in Tartus and Hmeymim, where Russian missile defense systems, namely the advanced S-400 system, were deployed to protect Russian bases. Russia did not use its own systems to intercept the missiles.

Trump pressed ahead with his plans to attack despite a decision by the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) to send a fact-finding mission to the alleged chemical attack in Syria’s Douma upon requests from Moscow and Damascus.

The Russian center for the reconciliation of conflicting parties examined Douma on April 9, two days before the purported gas attack, to find no traces of chemical weapons.

Source: Presstv

20, April 2018

King changes Swaziland’s name to ‘Kingdom of eSwatini’ ⁰

The king of Swaziland, one of the world’s few absolute monarchs, announced on Thursday that his country had changed its name to “Kingdom of eSwatini” to mark 50 years since independence from British rule.

Meaning “place of the Swazi”, eSwatini is the Swazi language name for the tiny nation landlocked between South Africa and Mozambique.

Unlike some countries, Swaziland did not change its name when it gained independence in 1968 after being a British protectorate for more than 60 years.

King Mswati III declared the name change during independence day celebrations at a packed sports stadium in the second city of Manzini.

“I would like to announce that Swaziland will now revert to its original name,” he said, wearing red military uniform.

“African countries on getting independence reverted to their ancient names before they were colonised. So from now on the country will be officially be known as the Kingdom of eSwatini.”

The name Swaziland angers some citizens as it is a mix of Swazi and English.

The move has been mooted for several years, with lawmakers considering the issue in 2015. Mswati III has used the new name in previous official speeches.

The king, who was crowned in 1986 aged 18, rules by decree and has often been criticised for his lavish lifestyle despite the grinding poverty suffered by many of his citizens.

Political parties are banned from taking part in elections and only candidates approved by chiefs loyal to the king can stand for office.

The country, which has a population of about 1.3 million people, suffers the highest HIV rate in the world, with 27 percent of adults infected.

The name change could mean that the country’s constitution is re-written, as well as changes for the Royal Swaziland Police Force, the Swaziland Defence Force and the University of Swaziland.

After independence, Rhodesia became Zimbabwe, Nyasaland became Malawi, and Bechuanaland became Botswana.

(AFP)

19, April 2018

Alex Song not on trial with Red Bulls ⁰

Alex Song wasn’t in training with the New York Red Bulls on Wednesday although he is expected back at some point in the future, this as the club reiterates that he isn’t on trial.

For the last two weeks, Song has been training with the Red Bulls in what the club has said has been an opportunity to let a world class player get his fitness; the midfielder is currently out of contract and seeking a club. The idea of Song joining the Red Bulls, a leap in logic made by many fans, made some sense given his resume.

Song can play as a holding midfielder as well as a center back. The Cameroonian international has played with some prominent clubs around the world, including Arsenal, Barcelona and West Ham United. He will turn 30-years old in September.

“He’s not [in] today,” Marsch said on Wednesday about Song being at training. “He left last week to go be with his family for a little bit. There’s a chance that we do see him again. It’s been great having him here but it’s not a trial — it’s just helping him out.”

www.metro.us

19, April 2018

UK investor to develop mall in Cameroon ⁰

British private equity firm Actis is investing in a £200m mall and business park in the central African country of Cameroon.

Planned for the city of Douala, the 18,000-sq-m Douala Grand Mall and Business Park will have a Carrefour supermarket, a multiplex cinema, restaurants and shops. A second phase will include a five star hotel and office spaces.

Douala is the commercial capital of Cameroon, with a population of just under 2.5 million. British High Commissioner to Cameroon, Rowan Laxton, laid the foundation stone for the mall on 11 April with Cameroon’s Minister of Commerce, Luc Magloire Mbarga Atangana.

According to the High Commission, the project is funded by the British Investment Fund-Actis, and is being carried out with a local real estate developer, Craft Development.

The scheme is expected to create 4,500 local jobs, with construction scheduled for completion by the end of 2019. “This diversification of portfolio in Cameroon (investing beyond power sector) is a remarkable signal that Cameroon is a good business destination for multinationals like Actis,” said Rowan Laxton.

“As the British High Commissioner, I feel encouraged to persuade more UK investors to come.” Spun out of a UK government investment vehicle in 2004, Actis invests in growth markets across Africa, Asia and Latin America.

Source: Globalconstructionreview

19, April 2018

Biya leaving a legacy of corruption and chaos ⁰

President Biya’s much anticipated departure is unlikely to alter the political climate of the country he ruined for more than three decades. It is already heading to two years ever since the Southern Cameroons crisis started and none of his fake policies seems to have delivered the expected result.

The appointment of an ardent Southern Cameroon criminal, Paul Atanga Nji as minister of Territorial Administration signals that Biya’s days of absolute and abusive power are over. This is not to say; however, that Biya – the Right Royal President – will quickly be forgotten. How can Cameroon’s impoverished masses forget a man who so cynically plundered Cameroon’s wealth, hiring a string of jets and stashing billions of Euros in Swiss bank accounts.

The bespectacled tyrant and his lavish lifestyle will long be synonymous with the worst excesses of corruption and greed. Having made himself head of state with full executive powers after the 1984 April 6^th coup, Biya and his gang embarked on a course which would quickly reduce Cameroon to a shambles.

In the 1990s and with the support of a Southern Cameroons pro CPDM comedian, Chief Inoni Ephraim, Biya proclaimed a fake anti colonial doctrine and the beautiful city of Victoria was renamed Limbe and Anglophones were urged to adopt a national costume of French Cameroun design. Not being one to hide his light under a bushel, the son of a wretched Roman Catholic Catechist, Paul Biya Bi Mvondo became the father of the Cameroonian nation.

Today, it is evidently clear that what Mr. Biya is actually leaving behind is a country in name only. In both East and West Cameroon, roads, ports, railways, schools, hospitals and public buildings have all been allowed to fall into such a state of disrepair that it will take any new regime in French Cameroun many years to fix the mess. Ever since the creation of the ruling CPDM crime syndicate in Bamenda, any pretence at good governance or fiscal accountability was dropped as Biya’s cronies dipped their hands in the public coffers and his political opponents squabbled pointlessly among themselves.

In Mvomeka’a, the village of his birth, he has constructed a gaudy palace, a multimillion dollar golf course with ornamental gardens and a runway long enough to accommodate a Boeing 747, which he often leased from Air France for family shopping sprees in Geneva. His cynical exploitation of Cameroon is made possible by French government support.

In return for providing bases from which the French can control the Central African Sub region, Biya has been able to extract the maximum of US and EU aid and indulgence. The French are on hand helping him to carry out the genocide currently going on in Southern Cameroons.

Biya still has the backing of the French government even though growing anarchy and lawlessness threatens him at home. Few could have predicted that the beginning of his end would be occasioned by an uprising born in the remote areas in Southern Cameroons. Reading from a small piece of dirty paper at the Nsimalen International airport in Yaoundé from a trip that took him to the Ivory Coast, Biya appeared like a man who has lost everything: his health, his family and above all, the respect of his people.

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai