Headline News

14, July 2017

Maroua: Gendarme opens fire on colleagues ⁰

A young gendarmerie officer opened fire today Friday, July 14, 2017 on his comrades in service at the Gendarmerie legion at Kousseri, in the Far North region.

The officer killed four and seriously wounded one of his colleagues. Unconfirmed reports say the killings are linked to a love affair with the young officer’s wife.

The victims are:
– Captain Ondoua, company commander (deceased)
– Gendarme Ndengue Carole, deceased
– Gendarme May Bébé, deceased
– Gendarme Moulioum, Injured

A civilian lady working in the kitchen department named as Madam Ibrahim was also killed. The alleged murderer has been identified as Constable Jude Woumessi

14, July 2017

Minister Issa Tchiroma’s silence of the lamb ⁰

For two months now, Issa Tchiroma Bakary, the Minister of Communication and so-called government spokesman has not held a press conference. To be sure, Tchiroma’s last meeting with the press was on the 27th of April, 2017. The Minister of Communication’s silence seems strange to many political commentators in Yaoundé, the nation’s capital and has given rise to many reactions.

Mindful of the fact that a lot has been happening including the assassination of the Bishop of Bafia, some analyst have attempted to explain Issa Tchiroma’s silence by evoking a medical evacuation to Europe. However, a lot of under-the-table talk is currently going on in Cameroon and the least that can be said is that for almost two months, we have not seen Minister Issa Tchiroma intervene spontaneously on the different subjects of the day.

Rumour is circulating that President Biya no longer needs his services following sweeping declarations he made at the beginning of the Southern Cameroons uprising. One of Minister Tchiroma’s secretaries recently opined that, “We no longer have any information from the presidency and my boss can only speak with the approval of the hierarchy. He does not invent anything. What he says comes from the presidency.”

By Rita Akana
Cameroon Concord News

14, July 2017

Yaounde: BEAC Governor rules out currency devaluation rumours ⁰

The Governor of the Bank of Central African State, BEAC – Abbas Mahamat Tolli has assured the population that the current economic situation in the CEMAC zone does not warrant a devaluation of the CFA Franc. Abbas made a comparative analysis of the economic situation that prevailed in 1993, before the January 1994 devaluation with the current 2017 situation and observed that the Central Africa sub region is not on the edge of an abyss.

During a press conference at the Central Bank’s headquarters in Yaoundé, Governor Abbas Mahamat Tolli, pointed out that recent rumour about a possible devaluation of the CFA franc are unfounded. He said in 1993, the growth rate of the sub region was -0.3% far below the 2017 growth forecast estimated at 0.4%.

The investment rate is also expected to reach 23.5% by the end of 2017 as against 18.8% of Gross Domestic Product, GDP before the previous devaluation. Budgetary deficit from commitments, excluding grants stand at 3.5% in 2017 as against 9.7% of GDP in 1993. The rate of external coverage of the currency is stabilized to about 60% in 2017 against 14.8% before the devaluation of 1994. From the estimations of the Central Bank, the absolute value of official reserves is equivalent to 2,800 billion CFA F, representing 2.1 months of imports of goods and services.

The reserves are much more significant compared to the 165 billion in 1993, which barely covered one month of imports. BEAC’s operating account with the French Treasury would be in excess of 2,600 billion francs, whereas at the end of 1993 it had a deficit of 78.6 billion francs. The strong points advanced to dispel rumour of devaluation did not however minimize the current dismal economic and financial performance of the sub region. In the presence of members of the Monetary Policy Committee of BEAC, the Governor acknowledged that the zone has been suffering from deceleration of growth since 2014 which has significantly affected the economic and financial situation.

He however noted that there are glimmers of hope in the horizon as corrective measures have begun bearing fruit. The immediate visible impact is the reduction of public spending from an estimated 7000 billion in 2014 to about 3000 billion in 2017 following the implemented budgetary adjustments programmes by member countries. He added four of the six CEMAC countries have already finalised negotiations with the International Momentary Fund to enforce economic reform programs and financial frameworks that will favour mobilization of external resources with international donors.

Abbas Mahamat Tolli stated emphatically that no objective factor necessitates a monetary adjustment in the CEMAC zone at present. The IMF however has made economic prescriptions in order to stay afloat. According to an IMF statement published on the website, much effort is needed from the CFA franc zone countries to reduce poverty and increase the living standards of their people.

According to the IMF, priority areas include essential public and improve infrastructure, health care, education and job training. Each country needs to uphold good governance by tackling corruption, inefficiency and encouraging accountability. Regional integration within the CFA franc zone countries should be based on mutually beneficial economic ties.

Some African leaders now question the CFA parity with the Euro arguing that it does not allow Africa to develop. Many critics consider that the CFA franc, pegged to a strong euro, hampers the competitiveness exports of raw materials, quoted in dollars or pounds sterling on the main financial centres of New York or London.

Source: CRTV

14, July 2017

Sudan: Bashir freezes talks with US amid embargo row ⁰

Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir on Wednesday suspended negotiations with Washington aimed at ending sanctions against Khartoum, after the United States extended its embargo for another three months, state media said.

US President Donald Trump prolonged a review period overnight to October 12 before his administration decides whether or not to permanently lift the decades-old sanctions.

His predecessor Barack Obama had eased the sanctions in January, but kept Sudan on review for six months, a period that ended on Wednesday. Obama had made the permanent lifting of the sanctions dependent on the East African country’s progress in five areas of concern at the end of the review period.

In his executive order issued on Tuesday, Trump extended the deadline, saying “more time is needed” for the review. And on Wednesday, Bashir decided to suspend the talks between Washington and Khartoum.

Bashir “issued a presidential decree ordering the suspension of the committee that was negotiating (the lifting of the sanctions) with the United States until October 12,” the official news agency SUNA said, quoting a presidential decree. The committee has been negotiating for more than a year with US officials on lifting the American trade embargo in force against Khartoum since 1997.

(Source: AFP)

14, July 2017

Syrian defense minister hails Iran, Russia support in fighting terrorism ⁰

The Syrian defense minister has lauded the support provided by Iran, Russia and Lebanon’s Hezbollah movement in battling terrorism inside Syria. Major General Fahd Jassem al-Freij made the remarks during a Thursday field visit to units of the Syrian army in Damascus south-eastern Countryside.

“Our battle against terrorism is continuous and the terrorist scheme against Syria is collapsing and retreating thanks to the steadfastness of the Syrian people who rallied around their army and leadership as well as the support provided by the friendly countries, particularly Russia, Iran and the Lebanese Resistance,” the official SANA news agency quoted Freij as saying.

Syria has been fighting different foreign-sponsored militant and terrorist groups since March 2011. UN Special Envoy for Syria Staffan de Mistura estimated last August that more than 400,000 people had been killed in the crisis until then. Russia and Iran are the main international backers of the Syrian government in its battle against foreign-backed terrorists. At Damascus’ request, Iran has been providing military advisory support to the Syrian military in its counterterrorism operations.

Russia has been also carrying out an aerial campaign in Syria in coordination with Damascus since September 2015 to further boost the Syrian military’s anti-terror fight. Moreover, Iran and Russia along with Turkey have brokered several rounds of peace talks between Syria’s warring parties in the Kazakh capital, Astana. The Astana discussions produced a memorandum of understanding on de-escalation zones in Syria that sharply reduced fighting in the Arab country. The negotiations are aimed at bringing an end to the foreign-backed militancy in Syria, which began in March 2011.

Earlier this week, UN special envoy for Syria Staffan de Mistura said that opposition groups had achieved significant progress in coming closer together on the issues of Syri’’s future and constitutional reform, noting that “the opposition’s stance is now not that far even from Damascus.” Last month, Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Syria’s opposition groups, which are being sponsored by foreign countries, were progressively losing their power.

Meanwhile, the Syrian government forces continue to make advances against foreign-backed terrorists groups in several fronts. Earlier this week, Syrian Air Force fighter jets had carried out a string of aerial assaults against Daesh positions in al-Hussainia, al-Bogheilia, Panorama, Hattla, Marat and Mazloum districts in the eastern province of Dayr al-Zawr, killing scores of the militants and destroying large amounts of their munitions.
Separately, Syrian army soldiers have regained control over al-Heil oil fields northeast of the ancient city of Palmyra, inflicting heavy losses on Daesh terrorists. Elsewhere in the southwestern province of Sweida, Syrian army troops established complete control over Tal Shihab mountainous region.

Source: Presstv

13, July 2017

Cameroon-Nigeria: NFF confirms Uyo as venue ⁰

The Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) may have laid to rest the controversy that preceded the 2018 FIFA World Cup qualifier between the Super Eagles and the Indomitable Lions of Cameroon.

There was a heated debate of whether the match will be played at the Nest of Champions International Stadium in Uyo or not after the Super Eagles lost 0-2 to the Bafana Bafana of South Africa in the 2019 African Cup of Nations (AFCON) qualifier at the stadium.

But the NFF who spoke through its Director of Communications, Ademola Olajire has confirmed the stadium as the venue for the encounter which will now be played on September 1.

Olajire told journalists yesterday in Abuja the issue of venue has been settled and that all the necessary stakeholders are being informed of the date and venue. He also assured that the federation is putting in place every necessary arrangement that will ensure that the Super Eagles who are leading their group with six maximum points will get the desired result when the defending African champions visit Nigeria.

“I want to confirm that the match against Cameroon will take place in Uyo on the September 1. Uyo has been a good ground for the Super Eagles irrespective of what happened in the last game against South Africa in the AFCON qualifier.

“Equally, I have to reassure all lovers of Nigerian football that the NFF is not leaving any stone unturned to ensure that we defeat Cameroon because that will brighten our chances of qualifying for the World Cup” Olajire concluded.

Source: Vanguard

13, July 2017

The trial of Amadou Vamoulké: A man more sinned against than sinning ⁰

It is difficult to say exactly when the trial involving the Public Prosecutor and Cameroon Radio and Television (Crtv) against Amadou Vamoulké will take place at the Special Criminal Court. The former general manager of the state radio and television is prosecuted for an alleged misappropriation of nearly four billion FCFA.

However, it is known that one year after the legal proceedings against the former GM of Crtv started; there is an evolution in his file. Cameroon Concord News understands that judicial investigation has been closed for two weeks now, by an order of reference to the Special Criminal Court so that the accused will be made to appear before the court. Amadou Vamoulké will have to answer for an alleged diversion of nearly four billion FCFA.

On the 28th of June 2017, the man that the Beti Ewondo political elites replaced with Charles Ndongo at the helm of CRTV, was at the Special Criminal Court. On that day he was notified of the report of the inquiry into his case. According to the order of partial dismissal and referral to the Special Criminal Court, the state prosecutor accused the ex-GM of Crtv of having falsified the amounts of the TV license fee. The inflated amounts are estimated at 3.9 billion FCFA.

The Amadou Vamoulké file is a subject that still arouses some curiosities. Sources close to this case have revealed that before completing the judicial investigation, the judges sent several reports to their hierarchy in which they explained that they had not been able to demonstrate how Amadou Vamoulké was able to intervene in the influx of the audiovisual fee charged to it. The four experts commissioned by the Special Criminal Court also demonstrated that Amadou Vamoulké could not have manipulated an account housed in the Treasury Department and not at Crtv.

Depicting the Special Criminal Court established to prosecute alleged corrupt government officials and the several Alibabas responsible for pilfering from the public treasury as the President’s court is no misnomer. We call it the President’s court because it is one instrument of power through which the President is reining in on perceived opponents from within his CPDM power conduit. An attribute of a genuine court is the fairness of the trial proceedings in cases which are brought before the court for trial. It is not the number of convictions entered against accused. A court is legitimate and recognized as such because of its exercise of judicial, executive, legislative and administrative independence. A court that is independent must be accessible to all citizens after all, is equality before the law, not a constitutionally protected value? The Special Criminal Court is lacking in these attributes of impartiality, judicial independence and accessibility. It is perceived more as the President’s Court than a Court of Justice.

Establishing this court was President Biya’s way of saving himself the embarrassment of being humiliated during his perennial trips abroad as the President of the most corrupt countries in the world. This ranking of the country as the most corrupt or one of the most corrupt countries had a potential to hamper President Biya’s personal pecuniary interests far from the borders of Cameroon. There was therefore a personal interest need to establish the court. Another personal interest need was to avail himself of a legal tool under his direct control to consolidate absolute power, blackmail potential rebels and competitors within the system and to stifle any form of institutional opposition. He perceived the court as a tool with which to whitewash his more than thirty years of corrupt governance and the rape of the economy.

With the war against Boko Haram, the fight against corruption using the Special Criminal Court has afforded Paul Biya justification contest in the next institutionally flawed elections in order to eternalize power purportedly to direct the war against terror and the war against corruption. True to the name the President’s Court, the President has exclusive preserve in referring cases to the Special Court and the power to terminate them. He decides who will be arrested, who will be investigated and who will serve time and who will not.

In one instance, he ordered a detained the late Minister Bapes Bapes released from remand custody at Kondengui when a warrant was issued for his arrest without the presidential fiat. Recently Titus Edzoa a former Secretary-General at the Presidency of the Republic benefitted from a purported Presidential pardon whose primary purpose was the release of a French citizen Thiery Atangana from jail.

The fear of a presidential referral to the Special Criminal Court on additional charges of corruption under a practice devolved under the supervision of Paul Biya called “rouleur compresseur” pushed Titus Edzoa to rejoin the CPDM Party without a public resignation or repudiation of his membership of the party on which he intended to contest presidential elections prior to his incarceration. Edzoa was a victim of this system of presidential justice when new charges were brought against him when his first imprisonment was about to end in order to maintain him in prison.

Cameroonians want the rule of law to be the guarding principle on which justice is administered in the name of the people

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai
Cameroon Concord News Group

13, July 2017

14 killed, 30 injured in Cameroon bomb attack ⁰

Two bombers blew themselves up in northeastern Cameroon, killing 14 people and injuring 30 in an attack likely staged by Boko Haram terrorists, security sources said Thursday. The bombings, which took place on Wednesday evening in Waza near the Nigerian border, targeted a busy area in the market town, the sources said. The bombers struck an area with “restaurants, telephone cabins and kiosks,” a local official said.

“The town has been sealed off. Nobody can enter and nobody can leave,” the source said, adding that some of the wounded were in “quite serious” conditions. Though Boko Haram was born in Nigeria, the Daesh-affiliated group has carried out frequent attacks in Cameroon, Chad, and Niger, prompting the formation of a regional force to fight back.

Cameroon’s Far North region, which borders Nigeria, has seen a resurgence in attacks blamed on Boko Haram after months of relative calm. Six civilians were killed in mid-June in a double suicide attack in Kolofata, and two others died in Limani at the start of last month when a female bomber blew herself up near the town’s public school. Some 200,000 Cameroonians from the Far North region have fled their homes in fear of the violence.

(Source: AFP)

13, July 2017

38 probable mass graves discovered in DR Congo ⁰

Another 38 probable mass graves have been discovered in DR Congo in the country’s troubled central region of Kasai, the United Nations said Wednesday. At least 80 mass graves have now been identified in the region that has seen a major spike in violence between security forces and a tribal militia since September.

The international community has voiced alarm over the violence, which has claimed the lives of more than 3,000 people, according to statistics compiled by the Roman Catholic Church. The UN’s MONUSCO peacekeeping mission had previously spoken of “more than 400 dead” while about 1.3 million people are estimated to have fled their homes in the Kasai provinces.

The investigative mission this month found the latest mass graves in the Diboko and Sumbula areas of the Kamonia territory, the UN said. The violence began last year when Kamwina Nsapu, a tribal chieftain in territory near the southern border with Angola, openly challenged the authority of President Joseph Kabila’s government, provoking a crackdown by security forces.

Nsapu was killed in a police operation in August 2016, but his armed followers fight on in the belief he is still alive, because he was buried by the regime without respect for traditional rites accorded leaders of his stature which would have opened the way to a rightful succession.

Last February, MONUSCO accused the Kamwina Nsapu militia of “atrocities… including the recruiting and use of child soldiers,” but also condemned “a disproportionate use of force” by government troops. Two western experts sent to investigate the conflict by UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres went missing in March and their bodies were found in a shallow grave by peacekeepers a fortnight later. The government blamed the tribal militia for their murders.

(Source: AFP)

13, July 2017

68 billion scandal rocks Cameroon’s biggest pension fund ⁰

The accountant of the National Social Insurance Fund, Patrick Hervé Bessala has openly accused his general manager, Alain Noël Olivier Mekulu Mvondo Akame of wanting to involve him in the falsification of documents relating to the payment of social benefits for the financial year 2016.

In a correspondence dated May 2017 and copies sent to the Presidency of the Republic, the Ministry of Finance and to the Ministry of Higher State Control, Patrick Hervé Bessala reported to the Chairman of the Board of the National Social Insurance Fund that : “Mr. President, following the May 23rd session of the Board of Directors of the National Social Security Fund (CNPS), in which I took part, I hereby express my deepest disagreement as to the wording of the resolutions adopted at the end of that session, as reflected in the drafting of the minutes by the secretariat and made public by the General Manager of CNPS [Mekulu Mvondo] “.

Patrick Hervé Bessala further pointed out in his letter the numerous deficiencies and inconsistencies in the financial statements presented as well as by mentioning a request made by the board of directors to the general manager with a view to setting up an ad hoc committee to assist the accounting officer in the production of the accounts for the financial year 2016.

Patrick Hervé Bessala also did accuse the GM of CNPS of obstructing, in particular, the concealment of the constituent elements of the assets of the National Social Insurance Fund, “on fraudulent payment by the authorizing officer of the expenses of the organization in place of the accounting officer and his refusal to transmit the employment accounts and supporting documents of the sum of 68 billion FCFA made available to him in order to pay social benefits for the financial year 2016 “.

The GM (seen here on photo attached to this report) Alain Noël Olivier Mekulu Mvondo Akame has been solicited to have his version of the facts. The GM instead directed news reporters to his communication services, which revealed that this conflict is not the first of its kind and is related to the character of legal bigephism that governs the financial position of the fund.

Source: CIN