Headline News

29, March 2018

SDF wants Senate polls annulled for entire Southern Zone region ⁰

Cameroon’s main opposition Social Democratic Front (SDF) wants recently held Senatorial elections cancelled in the entire South West region of the country. Local media reports indicate that the party on Wednesday filed petition at the Constitutional Court to that effect.

The SDF tabled claims of fraud particularly in the town of Lebialem and incidents of attacks that marred the process in Bangem. The South West region along with the North West make up the Anglophone regions of the country. They have been riled by violence since October 2017 when separatists groups under the so-called Ambazonia Republic attempted to declare independence.

The two regions have been under curfew as a result of attacks on members of the security forces. Separatists under the banner of the Ambazonia Defense Force (ADF) have killed over twenty security forces in guerilla style attacks.

Security in the two regions has been the major issue with the series of polls that lie ahead for the country. The Senatorial polls of March 25 were the first in a multi-election year for the Central African country.

Cameroon’s parliamentary system caters for 100 senators out of which 70 are to be elected by municipal councillors across the country. The remaining 30 slots are the prerogative of the president.

The Senate polls will be followed by council, legislative and presidential elections later this year. The respective dates are yet to be determined by the President.

Source: Africa News

28, March 2018

Ghana: Thousands of protest controversial military deal with U.S. ⁰

Thousands of people protested in Ghana’s capital Accra on Wednesday against the expansion of its defence cooperation with the United States, in a rare public display of opposition to the growing foreign military presence in West Africa.

Demonstrators blowing vuvuzelas and beating drums filled Accra’s business district, holding placards criticising a new deal with Washington that they say threatens Ghana’s sovereignty.

“As a right-thinking citizen, I am here to fight for my country. I am against selling our peace and security for $20 million,” said Gifty Yankson, a 49-year-old trader.

“They (the American military) become a curse everywhere they are, and I am not ready to mortgage my security,” Yankson said.

Police estimated the crowd size at about 3,500 protesters. While officers in riot gear were present, no violence was reported.

International powers including the United States and France are looking to extend their presence in the remote Sahel region in particular, where al Qaeda and Islamic State militants have gained a strong foothold in recent years.

But Washington is struggling to mend its image in Africa, which was damaged by reports President Donald Trump described African nations as “shithole countries” in a discussion on immigration. The White House later denied he used that language.

Under the deal approved by Ghana’s parliament last week, the United States will invest around $20 million in training and equipment for the Ghanaian military this year. Opposition lawmakers boycotted the parliamentary vote.

In return, the U.S. military will be allowed to deploy troops and import military equipment tax-free, use an airport runway that meets U.S. standards, and have free access to Ghana’s radio spectrum.

Ghana has had a long-standing military and trade ties with the United States, but many say the latest agreement was a step too far.

Responding to local press reports concerning the deal, the U.S. Embassy in Accra underscored in a statement last week that it had no plans to establish a military base in Ghana.

It said the existing 20-year-old cooperation agreement “does not cover the current range and volume of bilateral exercises and assistance.”

Four elite U.S. soldiers were killed in Niger alongside local troops in an Islamist ambush in October, sparking a fierce debate back home about covert U.S. actions in West Africa.

The United States has about 7,200 U.S. Defense Department personnel, including soldiers, stationed in Africa. Over half of those are stationed at Camp Lemonnier in Djibouti, with the remaining personnel scattered across 32 other smaller locations.

REUTERS

28, March 2018

Corruption, backlogs strangling Cameroun’s Douala port ⁰

In Cameroon’s port of Douala, corruption, bureaucratic red tape, overpriced services and a growing backlog have combined to put a major drag on cargo trade through central Africa’s largest harbour.

More than 95% of Cameroon’s maritime traffic transits through Douala, a sprawling hub that serves as the main gateway for landlocked Chad and Central African Republic.

But the procedures for clearing goods are a permanent headache, and very little gets done without greasing palms with extra cash, traders say.

“There is high-level corruption at Douala port,” says one businessman as he slips a 1.50 euros note to the ticket seller at the entrance – a quarter of the official entry price.

Bribes are just one of the obstacles to moving cargo at Douala port. The procedures are interminably long and costly and due to a lack of investment its infrastructure has degraded.

“To take a car out of customs, for example, you have to get between 20 and 22 different stamps,” says a port employee who asked to remain anonymous – for each stamp, a bribe has to change hands. On top of that, there are rapidly rising formal costs.

“A car that we cleared a year ago for 850 000 CFA in charges would now cost 1.3 million,” explains the businessman who bribed the man at the gate.

“In the offices, staff (handling the paperwork) are incredibly slow, so if you want your dossier to be dealt with, you have to pay up.”

The World Bank has noted the remarkably long time taken to move goods through the Douala – an average of 16 days according to an expert mission in March last year.

The team said this period was “an eternity compared, for instance, with the port of Lome in Togo, where the delay is two days”.

Catastrophic delays

For Chad and Central African Republic, Douala is the nearest gateway for a stream of hauliers supplying the capitals of N’Djamena and Bangui.

Due to the red tape endured by the freight transporters, some are now considering the idea of “going through other ports in the West African subregion”, Chad’s ministry of infrastructure warned in a recent statement.

In Douala, “our lorries are often blocked for many weeks at the port before being able to get on the road”, Ali Abdallah Youssouf, head of Chad’s national council of importers, exporters and freight forwarders, told AFP by phone from Libreville.

A survey conducted for the World Bank in 2011 noted that customs “sometimes rightly” took much of the blame for delays in clearing containers and other cargo, but pointed out that many other agents were involved, from shippers to sanitary services.

Such delays are “catastrophic” for most businesses, stated a businessman from Central African Republic who has to work through the Cameroonian port.

“By holding the goods” the terminal managers “earn more money than they do in handling them,” particularly when it comes to wood, a valuable commodity in central Africa, he said.

‘A marked degradation’

Since 2004, the container terminal has been managed by Douala International Terminal (DIT), a subsidiary of France’s Bollore Group. Another of its subsidiaries, SEPDC, manages the wood terminal.

And it is through these two terminals that around half of the port’s merchandise has to pass.

But it has not gone unnoticed by the authorities themselves, with the port’s Director General Cyrus Ngo’o warning last month that a singular lack of investment had caused a “marked degradation” in its infrastructure.

His remarks were made in a pointed letter addressed to the transport ministry, a copy of which was seen by AFP.

The port, he wrote, was initially built to cope with an average “seven million tonnes of merchandise” per year, while today it handles 12 million tonnes – which was putting major stress on its limited infrastructure.

“Since 1980, there has not been any major investment to expand its ability to accommodate vessels and process their merchandise,” he wrote.

‘Congestion is real’

In February, France’s Rougier Group, which trades in tropical timber, said its business was suffering from the “chronic backlog” at Douala port, which was affecting its Cameroonian, Congolese and Central African subsidiaries.

But Ngo’o hit back, saying Douala could not be held responsible for Rougier’s failings since the port’s “logistical operations for international trade were proceeding as normal”.

Despite his fighting talk, Ngo’o’s letter admitted the port was facing “an unforeseen situation in which its operations were experiencing a decline in fluidity”.

“This situation is having a negative impact, notably on the speed of handling the exports of Cameroon’s main cash crops such as coffee, cocoa and wood,” he wrote.

“More than 2 000 containers” of these three goods had been stuck at the terminal for many weeks, he warned, saying the risk “of congestion at Douala port is very real.”

Source: AFP

28, March 2018

Atanga Nji in Southern Cameroons: But is anyone actually listening to him? ⁰

The government of Cameroon will accept dialogue as part of measures to end the Anglophone crisis, Interior Minister Paul Atanga Nji is reported to have said.

He however stresses that the sole condition to the dialogue being that it will be held with persons who are advancing the unity of Cameroon as a nation.

His view effectively means that the Central African country is not going to engage armed separatists whose activities continue to threaten members of the security forces and disrupt life in the Northwest and Southwest of the country – the Anglophone regions.

“We can still solve the problem without burning, looting, raping, destroying. The government is ready to dialogue with those who seek the oneness of Cameroon,” the Minister said in a visit to Buea, capital of the Southwest region on Tuesday.

Atanga is one of two Anglophones who were handed positions in the government following a cabinet reshuffle carried out by long-serving leader, Paul Biya.

What has become known as the Anglophone crisis, has riled the country’s two English-speaking regions. A previous cry against discrimination and marginalization from French-majority Cameroon has now taken a violent turn.

Secessionists under the so-called Ambazonia Republic continue to push for a breakaway from Cameroon – a move the government has flatly rejected. After a crackdown on protests in October last year during a planned symbolic independence declaration, the secessionists turned to arms.

They have since attacked and killed over twenty members of government forces – police, soldiers and gendarmes. They have also kidnapped two government officials. A soldier after burning his vehicle and a government official who appeared in a video begging to be rescued.

The call for dialogue has continually been made by several countries and groups but has yet to be seriously pursued. A number of the separatists leaders have been arrested and deported from Nigeria since January but they have yet to appear in court.

The humanitarian crisis arising from the situation has also led to Cameroonians fleeing the Anglophone regions in their thousands. The United Nations refugee agency has openly tasked parties to use dialogue to avoid further escalation of the crisis.

Source: Africa News

28, March 2018

Southern Cameroons Crisis: Sisiku Ayuk Tabe showing no signs of surrender ⁰

A well-placed source in Yaoundé has hinted Cameroon Intelligence Report that the Interim President of the Federal Republic of Southern Cameroons/Ambazonia who was abducted alongside members of his government in Nigeria and forcefully extradited to French Cameroun, Sisisku Ayuk Tabe has no intention of giving up his struggle for the independence of Southern Cameroons.

Sisiku Ayuk Tabe is currently being held in a presidential bunker in Yaoundé and has been refused contacts with legal representation hired by the Interim Government. Our source indicated that the Ambazonian chief executive has been questioned by French Cameroun Secret Service officials a couple of times but he would never surrender in the face of pressure on him to give up his push for independence of Southern Cameroons.

We gathered that the Sisiku was recently allocated 15 minutes daily by the Biya regime to sit outside and get some sun shine. Our informant further pointed out that “he looks like a man who will continue fighting and is aware that this is going to be a long fight but it will be a fight that Southern Cameroonians will win.”

The Yaoundé regime is preparing a case against the former Minister of Transport, Edgard Alain Mebo Ngo’o and other CIR sources have revealed that documents are being concocted to paint a political link between the former baron of the ruling CPDM crime syndicate and President Ayuk Julius Tabe.

Moderates within the Biya government are reportedly saying that the war on the people of Southern Cameroons was ill-advised and that Southern Cameroonians have the right to express their willingness for independence and a republic in West Cameroon.

Lawyers representing the abducted leaders in the Federal Republic of Nigeria received an objection from the Cameroun embassy in Abuja to travel to Yaoundé and meet their clients who were extradited without any legal process.

President Sisiku Ayuk Tabe was abducted in Abuja, Nigeria by a joint French Cameroun and Nigeria operation after the French Cameroun army launched a sweeping crackdown to block his declaration of independence for Southern Cameroons. He has mostly been based in Nigeria and has managed to get re-elected in snap elections staged by the various legitimate groups fighting for the independence of Southern Cameroons/Ambazonia. Yaoundé is expected to charge him, along 46 others for sedition and rebellion. We also got intelligence that 20 of the young Southern Cameroonians arrested in Taraba in Nigeria and sent back to French Cameroun were killed recently.

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai

28, March 2018

Israeli prime minister Netanyahu rushed to hospital ⁰

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has been rushed to hospital, say Israeli media sources.

According to several media sources on Tuesday, Netanyahu was transported to Haddassah Hospital in Jerusalem al-Quds after suffering from a high fever and severe coughing.

His personal physician has said that Netanyahu is suffering from lack of rest following an illness he contracted around two weeks ago.

“The prime minister is suffering from a high fever and is coughing,” confirmed his spokesman.

Source: Presstv

27, March 2018

Southern Cameroons War: Interim Gov’t says La Republique Forces Burnt St. Benedict’s Comprehensive College ⁰

Soldiers from La Republique du Cameroun regular army, its elite Rapid Intervention Battalion (Bataillon d’Intervention Rapide, BIR) have burned St. Benedict’s Comprehensive College (SABECC) alongside a nearby Government Technical School in the territory of Ambazoania on Monday, 26 March 2018, sources close the school administration have confirmed.

His Grace, Mgr. Archbishop Cornelius Fontem Esua, Bamenda Archdiocese is the proprietor of St. Benedict Comprehensive College, within the St. Mathias parish in Widikum Local Government Area, Momo County, Northern Zone of the Federal Republic of Ambazonia.

Since February, BIR soldiers were using the campus and classrooms as their military base from where they planned attacks, kidnapped unarmed civilians, confined civilians in dark rooms doe days without food, ferried many blindfolded civilians to Yaounde under the cover of darkness and released others after payment of ransom ranging from 500,000 – 1,000,000 Frs CFA.

In the early hours of Tuesday, Ambazonia self-defence forces in Widikum carried out operation “flush out” of the campus that resulted on the dead of fifteen (15) BIR soldiers. During the exchange of fire power, unfortunately, we lost one student who was in the custody of the BIR soldiers. The surviving few BIR soldiers burned the campus and their whereabout is still unknown.

By the Communications Secretary

Federal Republic of Ambazonia

27, March 2018

German court keeps exiled Catalan leader Puigdemont in custody ⁰

A German court said on Monday it was likely to take several days to decide whether to extradite former Catalan president Carles Puigdemont to Spain to face rebellion charges over the region’s campaign for independence.

Puigdemont appeared on Monday before a regional court in the northern German town of Neumuenster, which extended his detention pending a decision on extradition.

Another court, the Higher Regional Court in the town of Schleswig, will be responsible for deciding whether to grant Spain’s request. The court is unlikely to make a final decision on Puigdemont’s extradition before Easter, a spokeswoman for the state prosecutor said.

He had entered Germany from Denmark on Friday after leaving Finland, where he had attended a conference and was caught off-guard by the Spanish Supreme Court’s unexpected decision to reactivate his arrest warrant.

Puigdemont, who fled Spain five months ago for Belgium after Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy dismissed his regional administration and imposed direct rule from Madrid, faces charges of rebellion that could lead to 25 years in prison.

(Source: Reuters)

27, March 2018

Southern Cameroons Crisis: Things are falling apart ⁰

The Southern Cameroons crisis that started like a joke in 2016 is gradually producing one of the least expected consequences. When it all started playing out, the Cameroon government thought it could address the issue through military violence. In its view, killing a few demonstrators would send the others home and things would return to normal. But this strategy that has worked for years has turned out to be the government’s worst mistake.

Instead of sending the other demonstrators home after manhandling lawyers and Buea university students, things have instead snowballed and a small problem that could have been nipped in the bud through constructive and inclusive dialogue has metamorphosed into a full-blown conflict that has already consumed more than 1,000 lives. Despite this unfortunate picture, the government still holds that this unconventional war can only be won through conventional methods. It has declared war on the people it is supposed to protect and instead of using the population to gather intelligence so as to gain a better understanding of things, it has resorted to collective punishment which has only pushed the innocent and desperate population into the waiting arms of the secessionists.

Government measures have been anything but effective. Its arrogance has surprised the international community. Its financiers are gradually questioning its management effectiveness and this is gradually manifesting itself through dwindling resources. Pride goes before a fall, so say the wise. And this is gradually coming to pass in Cameroon where a government that has been at grips with a rebellion in the English-speaking part of the country and an endless insurgency in the north is dealing with empty coffers. The arrogance with which the government declared war on Southern Cameroonians a few months back is gradually fizzling out.

Mr. Joseph Beti Assoumou, the government’s defense minister, had declared that his troops would implement the president’s decision without batting an eyelid, but it turned out that Southern Cameroonian fighters, most of whom are ill-equipped, have killed so many army soldiers without batting an eyelid; a situation that has caused the docile Francophone population to start questioning the rationale behind the declaration of a war on fellow citizens as if they were some foreign fighters.

The violence escalated following the extradition of the Ambazonia President, Julius Ayuk Tabe, on Monday, January 26, 2018, to Yaoundé and this has continued for many weeks. Many young Southern Cameroonians have stepped up attacks on soldiers and gendarmes in a bid to express their frustration and anger. Many cities have been the theater of intense fighting for months with Manyu Division being the epicenter and this is costing the government a pretty penny. The government is facing a tough financial situation. Declining oil production and falling commodity prices are hurting a government that has spent more time wasting money on fake elections than on real and sustainable development projects.

The increasing attacks had been predicted by many analysts and politicians who had posited that the arrest and extradition of Sisiku Ayuk Tabe would only exacerbate things as more people would be radicalized. Most analysts based their thesis on the fact that the arrest of Mr. Mancho Bibixy, Barrister Felix Nkongho Agbor-Balla and Dr. Neba Fontem in January 2017 had only made matters worse and their predictions have been perfect. The Southern Cameroons crisis will not be over anytime soon. Ambazonian fighters are determined and the existence of many armed groups is giving the government much food for thought. It is today fighting an expensive war on many fronts with very limited resources. This is a huge challenge, but due to its legendary arrogance, it prefers to avoid the negotiating table. But this might not continue for a long time. Its Western backers are already skeptical about its ability to win this war.

Despite this, the violence continues. The government is wont to using violence as its weapon of choice to address even the least disagreement with its population. It still believes that it could use the same means to suppress a more determined Southern Cameroonian population that is receiving significant amount of help from abroad. Arms have been shipped into the country and there is a huge pool of willing fighters that is currently giving the government a run for its money. The stiff resistance is causing the government to lose sleep, while its expenses are increasing by the day, with government officials involved in the management of the war effort doing their best to line their pockets.

Despite the poker face that the country’s leaders have been spotting for some time, it is clear that the pride is gradually dwindling, as the country’s limited financial resources head south. The government is cash-strapped and it is in search of money to prosecute a war in the English-speaking regions that will surely last for years. It is also seeking to roll back a Boko Haram insurgency that has killed thousands in the north, including army soldiers who are poorly trained to deal with such a violent and radical insurgency.

The government has been drumming up support for its efforts to stem the tide of Boko Haram attacks in the north, but its efforts are not good enough. Years of neglect of that part of the country have created a vacuum that is being filled by Boko Haram. Years of unemployment among the youths have caused these youths to turn to other sources for help and Boko Haram has used this failure by the government to endear itself to the people.

Decades of corruption and recklessness have begun having an impact on a regime that has been anything but prudent in its financial management. Many former government officials are currently in jail for using state funds to feather their nests, although there are rumors that many of them ended there because they had the ambition of taking over from the country’s long-ruling president, Paul Biya. The country’s maximum security prison in Yaounde is today harboring distinguished personalities who had served in Mr. Biya’s government. A former prime minister, former Secretaries General at the presidency, a former minister of health, and a former minister of finance have all been roped in by anti-corruption campaign that is no longer inspiring fear. Government officials know that Mr. Biya’s time is almost up and given that they have participated in the mess, many of them are using unorthodox means to secure a good future for themselves.

A recent case is that of Basile Atanagana Kouna (BAK) who has simply underscored that there is nothing to write home about the government’s security system. BAK, as he is popularly known, was until early March, the powerful minister of water and energy who had transformed himself into a weapon of mass destruction for young jobless Cameroonian boys, many of whom have been condemned to wearing diapers for the rest of their lives. During his time at CAMWATER and the ministry of water and energy, if any young man had to dream of securing a job or having a promotion, then he had to think of bending over forward. BAK has left behind a trail of destruction and corruption wherever he has been to. At CAMWATER, the mess he left behind is still flowing and it has made its way to many neighborhoods. Even in Yaounde, the nation’s capital, there are many neighborhoods without water and electricity and this has gone on for years. BAK had decided to line his pocket instead of using the money for the purpose for which it was intended.

But BAK is not alone. There is still a long list of people to be arrested and taken to the Yaounde Maximum Prison that is already bursting at the seams. Adolphe Minkoa She, Magloire Ondoa, Jean Parfait Koe, Stanislas Victor Atangana, Rene Martin Mbida and Fidele Solange Ngono are among the people who are being watched closely. The country’s secret services are already on their trail. While in China with a begging bowl in search of financial resources, the country’s dictator had issued instructions that none of the people on the long list of suspects should be allowed to leave the country. He did not want a repeat of Basile Atanagana Kouna’s drama. His instructions were clear and firm and the country’s secret services want to prove that Basile Atanagana Kouna’s drama is just a flash in the pan.

Some of these people are already sick. Enow Agbor Kenneth, a native of Manyu Division, who has made this list of shame, has been suffering from diarrhea ever since he was informed of this decision. A source close to Benjamin Amenguele says his heart is already failing him ever since the country’s secret services summoned him to one of their many offices. Mr. Biya seems to have put all his collaborators on a diet. Many of them are losing weight, but this is against their wish. They know sooner or later, they will be at Kondengui and this is not a place a rich person should end up. Many of them are having violent nightmares and this is already impacting their health.

Biya has failed his people. He has disappointed his financiers. And this is hurting him, big time. With very limited financial opportunities, he is bound to look eastward. In this quest for more resources, China is gradually becoming a good friend. But there are many questions popping up regarding the viability of the corrupt system Mr. Biya has put in place in Cameroon. Even the Chinese have questions, but out of courtesy, they had to spare their host a lot of embarrassment. Mr. Biya has already been to China seven times. None of those visits seems to be producing the desired results.

Chinese are business people and they won’t be doling out money to a man who has run his own economy aground. Like in previous visits, many cooperation agreements were signed, but coughing up the money that will oil that cooperation, will be the hardest part of the agreements. Chinese have worked hard to earn their beautiful spot and respect under the sun. They are surely not going to be throwing their money down a dark and dry hole. If Mr. Biya’s Western backers are reluctant to give him vast financial resources, why would China do so when it knows the West will never allow it to take full control of Cameroon’s economy. China knows Cameroon is simply a fair weather friend. It will therefore not be fooled by Mr. Biya’s vain seduction. Things are clearly falling apart for the Yaoundé government. No matter how it pretends, the world is aware of what is happening.

The government of Cameroon had declared that it would never negotiate with English-speaking Cameroonians who have been demonstrating their frustration with the government for almost two years. This frustrated English-speaking minority has shown a lot of resilience. Its fighters are determined and their determination is something the government has not succeeded to understand. The fighters’ strategies have been evolving and this has produced some unexpected outcomes. They have moved from organizing ghost town operations to kidnapping senior administrative officers and this is spreading fear across the entire nation.

Civil servants sent to the two English-speaking regions now move around with lots of butterflies in their stomachs. The dangerous fighters have a nasty habit of surprising their targets. Even the Minister of Territorial Administration, Atanga Nji, knows that he is in their cross hairs. His out of control rhetoric is not making things better. The country is going through one of its most challenging moments and many people hold that only genuine dialogue can spare the once prosperous nation the pain it is seeking to inflict on itself. Analysts around the world are thinking that with dwindling resources, the government might soon have to eat its own words. It might soon be holding a peace plant and an invitation for an inclusive dialogue. The world is watching and it is really looking forward to that dialogue. Without inclusive dialogue, things will continue to fall apart. Fake elections and presidential decrees will not address the issues.

By Kingsley Betek and Rita Akana

Cameroon Concord News Group

Yaounde

27, March 2018

Nigeria uncovers over 80,000 ‘ghost’ policemen on govt payroll ⁰

There are over 80,000 ghost police officers on Nigeria, data from the office of the Accountant -General of the Federation has revealed.

According to local media reports, the disclosure came after staff count and full integration of payrolls across the country’s 42 police commands and formations into a federal information structure.

The federal government had instituted the Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information System (IPPIS) last February. After its implementation, the formerly known 371,800 figure of police officers fell to 291,685.

The revelation means that an estimated 80,115 police officers have until now continually drawn salaries and benefits running into billions of naira. The government did not disclosed exactly how much money had been saved by the measure.

Nigeria, Africa’s most populous nation continues to operate a federal police structure with all police officers deployed by central government. Some states have pushed for state police but the idea has repeatedly been shot down.

The Finance Minister, Kemi Adeosun, is on record to have disclosed that staff count under the IPPIS has also revealed similar ghost workers in other para-military agencies like the Immigration Service, the Prison service and the Nigeria Security and Civil Defense Corps.

There were series of protests in the capital Abuja and southeastern Port Harcourt State when government announced the move to implement IPPIS, the protest was hinged on the fact that integration will lead to delays in payment of salaries.

The government through the Finance Ministry insisted on going ahead with the move leading to the disclosure. Nigeria has also been dogged with a corruption problem across its public and private sectors.

The ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) led by Muhammadu Buhari came to power in 2015 with the promise to restore security, fight corruption and to rescue an ailing economy.

Culled from the Africa News