Headline News

19, June 2017

Douala: Cameroon destroys 37 tons of fake cement ⁰

740 bags of cement, (37 tons), have been destroyed in Douala. The cement was manufactured in a workshop located in Bonaloka, a popular district in the Douala metropolis. It was produced using a mixture of sand; with poor quality cement rejected by the main cement producing companies and was sold throughout the national territory.
The manufacturers of the fake cement were putting the resulting mixture (powder) in new bags bearing the names of the companies operating in the cement industry. They were sold on the market at the applicable official prices- between 4 600 FCFA and 4 700 FCFA in 8 of the 10 regions and between 6,000 and 6,500 CFA francs, in the Far North and North.
The fraudulent chain was uncovered by elements of the Second Gendarmerie legion in Douala, alerted by some concerned citizens. The stock was immediately destroyed on Friday, but there is no evidence that there are no other false cement manufacturing plants in a country where the bodies responsible for verifying products and trademarks are stuck in corruption and poor governance.
In a book titled “50 questions to understand”, the Cameroonian lawyer, Christian Dudieu Djomga, explains that counterfeiting was affecting all imported products and all brands in Cameroon.
By Fru James
Cameroon Concord News

18, June 2017

Half of Nigeria food never reached Boko Haram victims ⁰

Nigeria says half of government food aid meant to reach the victims of a militancy northeast of the country has not reached its destination. A spokesman for acting president Yemi Osinbajo said late on Saturday that half of the trucks carrying food aid for people driven from their homes by Boko Haram Takfiri group have been diverted away from their destination.
“Over 1,000 trucks of assorted grains are now on course, delivering the grains intact to beneficiaries since the commencement of the present program as against the reported diversion of over 50 trucks in every 100 trucks sent to the northeast,” said Laolu Akande in an emailed statement.
Osinbajo, acting in lieu of President Muhammadu Buhari who is in Britain on medical leave, launched a program on June 8 to reach out to around 2.7 million people identified as IDPs, or internally displaced, as a result of more than eight years of insurgency by Boko Haram. Akande said the new system for distribution of food would significantly prevent the diversion of the humanitarian aid.
“The issue of diversion of relief materials, including food and related matters, which has dogged food delivery to the IDPs would be significantly curbed under the new distribution matrix,” said the official, elaborating that 1,376 military personnel and 656 armed police would be tasked with guarding the food from where it its loaded to the trucks to the three main location where displaced people live, namely Borno, Adamawa and Yobe.
More than 20,000 people have been killed since Boko Haram started its devastating campaign in northeast Nigeria in 2009. The violence has claimed many lives in neighboring countries of Chad, Niger and Cameron. A large-scale government offensive has pushed the militants from key areas they used to control, although sporadic attacks have continued over the past months.

Source: Presstv

18, June 2017

Cameroon-Chile: Samuel Eto’o in Moscow ⁰

Samuel Eto’o is in the house. Although he seems to have come dressed as Will.i.am. The Cameroonian striker is watching over his compatriots. And looking fly at the same time.

18, June 2017

Archbishop of Yaounde says dark forces behind anti-Roman Catholic persecutions in Cameroon ⁰

The Archbishop of Yaounde Jean Mbarga has told Radio Vatican that the Roman Catholic Church in Cameroon is being persecuted by evil forces. The Archbishop was speaking of the death of the late Bishop of Bafia, Jean-Marie Benoit Balla.

The prelate believes that the Catholic Church in Cameroon is martyred. “We are in a story, I was about to say, of martyrs in our Church. It has been going on since, and it has been going on for quite some time. When we read this whole story and for the most part things have not been elucidated we deduce that we are persecuted and victims of violence that come from dark forces that affect the Church in its heart, in its blood and in his life, “declared the prelate.

Archbishop Jean Mbarga wondered aloud why Roman Catholic clergies were being targeted. He also pointed out in the interview that “each time there were assassinations; the Christian family never gets an explanations. We do not know who is really behind the killings.”

Jean Mbarga maintained that the brutal death of Jean-Marie Benoït Balla will leave “indelible traces” in the community he was in charge of evangelizing. He spoke of “dismayed, shocked” faithful and recalled that the bishops “have asked the authorities to shed full light on this crime.”

The disappearance of Bishop Balla surprised him all the more because the context did not allow such a tragedy. “What has just happened to us surprises us all! We do not understand! Because, until that fateful date, everything was fine! In my ecclesiastical province there were no shadows!

By Sama Ernest

Cameroon Concord News

18, June 2017

“There are no recognized superstars in the Cameroon team competing at Russia 2017” ⁰

Unity and hard work are the Africans’ greatest assets

“We’ve all become firm friends,” explained skipper Benjamin Moukandjo

The first thing that becomes obvious to anyone spending time with the Cameroon squad that has travelled to Russia to take part in the 2017 Confederations Cup is the strong friendship that appears to unite the reigning African champions.

“When it’s just us, we tell jokes and make fun of each other, but once we’re out on the training pitch, everything gets serious again – we know when we need to get down to work,” forward Benjamin Moukandjo explained in an exclusive interview with FIFA.com in the Moscow hotel where Les Lions Indomptables have decided to base themselves ahead of their opening match with Chile today.

Magic ingredient

“I’ve been coaching for 29 years and I’ve never had a squad like this before,” the man at the helm, Hugo Bross, said earlier this year at the 2017 CAF Africa Cup of Nations, from which his charges emerged victorious. “I keep telling them every day that they have something they need to cherish – and that’s friendship. They’re genuine friends, and you don’t often get that in a football team.”

Moukandjo smiled, nodding in agreement at his coach’s assessment. “Over time, and especially during the Cup of Nations campaign, we all became firm friends,” said the Lorient attacker. “We headed off to the tournament as a team, but while we were there we became a family.”

Source: FIFA.com

18, June 2017

Top Iranian general says Tehran has the means to punish US ⁰

A top military official says Iran has the means to punish Washington after the US Senate approved a new sanctions bill which targets the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) on terrorism charges. “The ruling establishment in the US is a hegemonic, expansionist, bullying and blackmailing regime and the root of hostilities with us is based in these things,” Deputy Chief of Staff of Armed Forces Brigadier General Massoud Jazayeri said.

“Since the early years of the Islamic Revolution, the Iranian nation has been familiar with US enmity towards the revolution, the establishment and its effective organs such as the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps,” he added. On Thursday, US senators approved sweeping sanctions against Iran over its ballistic missile program. The measure would also enforce sanctions and an arms embargo against IRGC.

The Senate legislation, hailed by Israel and its influential lobby groups in the US, still must pass the House of Representatives and be signed by President Donald Trump to become law. Iranian officials have said the bill violates, “both in letter and spirit”, a nuclear accord, to which the US is a party. They have called for a strong response, with Iran’s parliament working on retaliatory measures, according to an MP. “If the Americans and the Zionists do not change their manners, we will take more drastic steps – hereby announcing that we have the means of punishment at our disposal,” Gen. Jazayeri said without elaboration.

“Of course, America has to change its manners, or we will force the Americans to do that,” he told the Central News Service which is affiliated to the Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting (IRIB). Jazayeri said the world public opinion views “the US and international Zionism as the godfathers of terrorism.”

“Evidence suggests that Daesh and other terrorist groups have been raised in the lap of America and the reactionary regimes of the region,” he said. The commander said US measures in intensifying sanctions on Iran and accusing IRGC of supporting terrorism “will make us fight the Great Satan with a more determined spirit.”

The “Great Satan” is the late founder of the Islamic Republic Imam Khomeini’s description of the United States, who led a revolution against Iran’s Pahlavi regime which was a close American ally. “This is a historical irony that the terrorist Americans are calling the revolutionary and popular IRGC, whose mission has been fighting terrorism from its inception and supporting the Palestinian, Iraqi and Syrian people as well as confronting homegrown terrorists, as a sponsor of terrorism,” Jazayeri said.

“The other strange thing is that the peoples of the world have not forgotten the current American president’s admission about the creation of Daesh and assistance to it,” he added. Addressing supporters at a campaign rally in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida in August, Donald Trump said then-President Barack Obama and former secretary of state Hillary Clinton “founded” Daesh in the Middle East.

Source: Presstv

18, June 2017

Valeri Nepomniachi meets with the Lions, Says “I am waiting for you here in 2018” ⁰

The atmosphere was special in the den of the Indomitable Lions on Saturday June the 17^th 2017 in Moscow as the famous football technician of Russian nationality, Valeri Nepomniachi, visited the Cameroon team. Nepomniachi entered the history of Cameroonian football legends after leading the Indomitable Lions to the quarter-finals during the 1990 World Cup in Italy. It is until now, the highest ranking of the Lions in the FIFA World Cup tournament.

Roger Milla, Bonaventure Djonkep, Eugene Ekeke, Omam Biyick, Belll Joseph Antoine, Thomas Nkono, Ndip Akem Victor, Tataw Eta Stephen and other players who were in Italy’s 90 memorable expedition, are no longer with the Lions. But, 27 years later, it was with reverence that Valeri Nepomniachi was received in the team hotel of the indomitable Lions.

After a cordial exchange with the Cameroonian delegation, Valeri Nepomniachi before leaving, put a lot of pressure on the members of the current team. “I’m waiting for you here in 2018!! I mean here in Russia,” said the 74-year-old Russian technician.

Russia, which is hosting eight countries for the Confederations Cup from 17 June to 02 July 2017, is also the host country for the 2018 World Cup. Although Cameroon is still in the decisive phase of the playoffs, it is still racing for the Qualifications in the Africa area. The indomitable Lions are focused on their first game of the 2017 Confederation Cup scheduled for today against Chile.

By Chi Prudence Asong with files from Cameroon Info.Net

17, June 2017

Hundreds of top jobs sit unfilled nearly 150 days into Trump’s term ⁰

The administration of US President Donald Trump is way behind on filling key positions as hundreds of top jobs sit unfilled nearly 150 days into his term, ABC News reported. Trump has complained that the process of confirming his nominees in Congress is “record-setting long” and has blamed Democratic lawmakers for stalling the process.

However, while the Senate has taken longer to confirm Trump’s nominees than it took with nominees of the previous several presidents, the real problem may be the president’s disorganized and chaotic transition. The groundwork of lining up potential nominees for a new administration usually begins well before Election Day with candidates beginning early to identify people they would want in the executive branch.

But with the Trump election campaign and later the Trump presidential transition almost none of that preparation took place. Previous incoming presidents identified a large group of potential nominees either during the campaign or the transition. But the Trump transition was well behind schedule compared to other recent presidents in lining up candidates for key roles.

The delayed start continues to plague the administration with only 151 nominations having been announced for the more than 500 critical jobs across the executive branch that require Senate confirmation. The Obama administration had announced 284 nominations by this point, and Bush had named 245, according to figures compiled by the nonpartisan Partnership for Public Service.

Trump has signed off on more than 350 nominees, which would mean that more than 200 of these people are currently undergoing a background review. The White House points to the long, behind-the-scenes process of shepherding each nominee from selection to confirmation as a key cause of the current backlog.

“Each nominee must pass a thorough background investigation before they can be officially nominated – everything from standard background checks to careful research and individual outreach to peers and colleagues,” White House spokesperson Lindsay Walters told ABC News.

Once a potential nominee is identified, it can take upwards of 45 days for that person to go through an FBI background check and a review by the Office of Government Ethics, all of which is typically done before the nominee’s name is sent to the Senate for confirmation. Trump’s nominees are taking 43 days on average to be confirmed, about 11 days longer for each person.

Culled from Presstv

17, June 2017

Cameroon customs intercept Boko Haram drugs hidden in cans, bags and cartons ⁰

Cameroon custom officers in the Far North region serving at the Fotokol checkpoint have seized 200 kg of drug destined for the Nigerian Islamic sect, Boko Haram. A leading security source operating on-site on behalf of the Joint Multinational Force (FMM) who spoke to us but sued for anonymity, revealed that some 3,000 packages, consisting mainly of Tramadol was intercepted by the Customs officers stationed at Fotokol on the border with Nigeria.

In addition to the Tramadol, the officers also seized Indian hemp that was channeled to Boko Haram fighters in the Lake Chad basin. Boko Haram has allegedly pledged allegiance to the Organization of the Islamic State and has been staging armed incursions deep inside Cameroon territory. These narcotics, transported by the local networks of the sect, were concealed in cans, bags and cartons.

By Chi Prudence Asong

Cameroon Concord News

17, June 2017

Kofi Annan says future of DR Congo in grave danger ⁰

Former UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan and nine former African presidents have warned that the future of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) is in “grave danger” due to the failure to organize an election to replace President Joseph Kabila.

Kabila refused to step down at the end of his constitutional mandate last December, adding to uncertainty in the vast, mineral-rich Central African nation, where regional wars from 1996-2003 killed millions of people.

An agreement between Kabila’s ruling coalition and opposition leaders calls for the presidential election to take place by the end of this year, but delays in registering voters and mobilizing financing make that increasingly unlikely.

This file photo, taken on February 03, 2015, shows President of the Democratic Republic of the Congo Joseph Kabila attending a training session of his country’s football team in Bata Kabila. (Photo by AFP)

“The failure to organize elections in late 2016, in conformity with the constitution of the DRC, has created an acute political crisis,” Annan and the former presidents, including South Africa’s Thabo Mbeki and Nigeria’s Olusegun Obasanjo, said in a statement issued late on Thursday.

“We feel obliged to sound the alarm before it is too late,” it added.

Dozens died last year in violent anti-government protests in major cities, and an insurrection in the center of the country has killed hundreds and displaced 1.3 million since last August.

(Source: Reuters)