Headline News

Anglophone Crisis: Philemon Yang treated like a “common politician”

10, March 2017

Anglophone Crisis: Philemon Yang treated like a “common politician” 0

Prime Minister Philemon Yang has completed his tour of the Bamenda province of Southern Cameroons some two months after his last visit to his home constituency. The Premier traveled to the region and made an ultimate plea for the resumption of schools in West Cameroon.

The Yang Philemon trip that took him to the seven divisional headquarters that make up the Bamenda province failed to yield the anticipated results. Southern Cameroonian groups who received the Head of Government challenged him to openly condemn the rapes, extra judicial killings and the numerous arrests and abductions currently going on in Southern Cameroons.

From Ngo-Kentungia to Boyo via Donga-Mantung and Menchum including Mezam, Momo, and Bui, Philemon Yang was treated like a common politician. Cameroon Concord News understands the Prime Minister’s visit has helped to energize the people’s revolution as schools have still not started.

It is hard to say who is really in charge in Yaoundé as the decision to travel to the North West came only after the Ministries in charge of Education, made public a statement that students and pupils, the strike notwithstanding, still have an opportunity to attend catch-up classes to cover-up for lost time.

The frustrated members of the Cameroon GCE Board, also met last week, and announced an extension for registration of the GCE. The Prime Minister’s trip to the North West Region therefore was another vain opportunity for schools to re-open.  The Cameroon Anglophone Civil Society Consortium has applauded the people of Southern Cameroons for their resistance.

By Rita Akana

China says Power-for-money deals directed 2016 US presidential vote

10, March 2017

China says Power-for-money deals directed 2016 US presidential vote 0

China has strongly rejected US criticism of its human rights record, accusing American politicians of corruption and hypocrisy. China’s State Council Information Office, in a report entitled “The Human Rights Record of the United States in 2016” and released on Thursday, scoffed at Washington’s repeated pose as “the judge of human rights.”

The report stated that the United States continues to wield “the baton of human rights” and criticize many countries for the human rights situation while it takes no heed of its own “terrible human rights problems.” It added that “the self-proclaimed human rights advocate has exposed its human rights myth” with “the gunshots lingering in people’s ears behind the Statue of Liberty, worsening racial discrimination and the election farce dominated by money politics and power-for-money deals.”

“Waves of boycotts and protests fully exposed the hypocritical nature of US democracy,” the report pointed out. The United States had the second highest prisoner rate last year, with 693 prisoners per 100,000 of the national population. Gun-related crimes also reached a high level, according to the report. There were a total of 58,125 gun violence incidents, including 385 mass shootings, in the United States in 2016, leaving 15,039 killed and 30,589 injured, the report cited figures from a report by the Gun Violence Archive.

Moreover, US social polarization worsened in 2016 and the proportion of adults who had full-time jobs hit a new low since 1983, income gaps continued to grow, the size of middle class began to shrink, and living conditions of the lower class deteriorated, the report added.

The percentage of Americans who said they were in the middle or upper-middle class dropped by 10 percentage points, from an average of 61 percent between 2000 and 2008 to 51 percent in 2016. That descent meant 25 million people in the United States fared much worse in economic terms, the report highlighted.

It added that race relations continued to deteriorate in the US last year, and the wage gap between blacks and whites was the worst in nearly four decades. The report came in response to “The Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for 2016” issued by the US State Department on March 3. Washington’s report accused China of “repression and coercion” of civil society groups, and claimed that Beijing is impinging on people’s liberties in Hong Kong and Macau.

Presstv

1000s of AK 47 rifles intercepted in Douala

9, March 2017

1000s of AK 47 rifles intercepted in Douala 0

Some 6,000 AK 47 rifles were intercepted on Wednesday in Douala by the national gendarmerie. The information reported by a private radio station in the economic capital was confirmed to Cameroon Concord News by a leading security source of the gendarmerie brigade in Douala.

Our source revealed that a retired police officer was also arrested during the operation that took place around 3am in a travel agency. The man is the head of a gang suspected of belonging to a network of arms traffickers.

Cameroon security officials noted that the guns were destined for Central African Republic militia groups operating in the North and the East of Cameroon.

By Rita Akana

International Women’s Day: All is well in French Cameroun

9, March 2017

International Women’s Day: All is well in French Cameroun 2

The First Lady, Mrs. Chantal BIYA has presided over an orderly and colourful march-past at the 20th May Boulevard – Yaounde, to commemorate the 32nd International Women’s Day in Cameroon.

A mammoth crowd of women from several walks of life participated in the event, organised by the Ministry of Women’s Empowerment and the Family, MINPROFF. The event was characterised by the passage of a large Cameroonian flag and the effigies of President Paul BIYA and wife, Mrs. Chantal BIYA.

Special messages on banners were also used to clamour for gender equality, women empowerment, and an end to child marriages in Cameroon. Majority of the slogans were directly connected to this year’s theme: “Women in the Changing World of Work: Planet 50-50 by 2030”.

 

The women who were particularly happy with the presence of the First Lady at the grandstand, equally seized the opportunity to denounce acts of terrorism and other forms of extremism that are aimed at destabilising Cameroon.

Groups from friendly and neighbouring countries such as the USA, France, Gabon, and the Democratic Republic of Congo, participated the march-past.

Culled from the Presidency of the Republic

Anglophone Crisis: Biya wants to get rid of Speaker or Senate Head

9, March 2017

Anglophone Crisis: Biya wants to get rid of Speaker or Senate Head 5

Panic has allegedly gripped the President of The Senate and Speaker of the National Assembly as the first ordinary session of parliament for the 2017 legislative year is due to open on Monday.  After three months of parliamentary recess, legislators from the nooks and crannies of the country are expected in Yaounde on Monday 13 March for the first ordinary session of parliament for the 2017 legislative year.

According to two separate bureau orders signed on Tuesday 7 March by the Speaker of the National Assembly and the President of The Senate, the Lower House will convene at 1pm at the Ngoa-Ekellé glass house while members of the Upper House will sit at 4pm at their temporary Yaounde conference center meeting place.

With the first session of each legislative year traditionally devoted to the renewal of bureaus, there are already allegations that President Paul Biya is contemplating dropping one of the Francophone heads of the two legislative institutions for an Anglophone.

There’s an unwritten law in the country which stipulates that when the Head of State is a Francophone, the second in command must be an Anglophone. The Speaker (president) of the National Assembly, Rt Hon Cavaye Yeguié Djibril has been at the helm of the lawmaking institution since 1992.

The leading member of the ruling Cameroon People’s Democratic Movement (CPDM), enjoyed the position and benefits of the second personality in the country until the senate was put in place about four years ago. The Senate was created following an amendment to the 1996 constitution but President Paul Biya kept the power to convene the Electoral College close to his chest.

The maiden elections to the Upper House were held in April 2013 and Senator Marcel Niat Njifenji was elected the first president of the house in June of same year. The Francophone senator has since been re-elected to the post that makes him second personality according to state protocol, and constitutional successor to the President of the Republic in case of a vacancy in the latter office.

With the recent Anglophone uprising in the country and reports that the Head of State is “gradually yielding to” the demands of the minority English speakers, sources say one of the two personalities above would be replaced by an Anglophone during the “elective” parliamentary session due to open on Monday.

Who therefore will President Biya sacrifice, Hon Cavaye Yeguié Djibril or Senator Marcel Niat Njifenji? The geo-political calculation is that should President Biya “fire” one of the Francophone personalities above, Anglophones might also have to “sacrifice” the Prime Minister’s office which they have also occupied since 1992.

Cameroun Info.Net

Southern Cameroons Women’s Day: Attendance noticeably less than expected

9, March 2017

Southern Cameroons Women’s Day: Attendance noticeably less than expected 1

Hundredths gathered at the Commercial Avenue in Bamenda, North West region to commemorate the 32nd International Women’s day amidst ghost town that was being observed by the population. The scantily attended event lacked the fanfare that usually accompany it, reports Cameroun Info.Net.

Most of the women who took part in the parade were under the banner of regional delegations including some few associations. However the Governor of the North West region Adolphe LELE L’Afrique said he was satisfied with the turn out especially as messages had been circulated calling for boycott in the two English speaking regions. He congratulated women who showed up saying it was a wonderful move.

Some women who took part in the parade were transported back to their destinations in military trucks. The situation in Buea was not different, turnout was low compared to previous years but like his North  West counterpart, Bernard Okalia Bilai congratulated the women who showed up for the celebration saying that they also have to play a key role in maintaining peace during this period of crisis. He urged women to send their children to school by also convincing their husbands to see the need for educating their children.

Southern Cameroons Crisis: Mo Ibrahim Foundation calls for the restoration of internet services

8, March 2017

Southern Cameroons Crisis: Mo Ibrahim Foundation calls for the restoration of internet services 1

In a statement on the use of internet and cellphone services in Africa published on Tuesday, the Mo Ibrahim Foundation noted that there has been a significant progress in almost all countries in Africa. The African foundation which shares the belief that governance and leadership lie at the heart of any tangible and shared improvement in the quality of life of African citizens however said it was concerned about the prolonged internet blockade in the North the North West and South West Regions of Cameroon.

The Foundation that follows with attention the development of internet and mobile services on the African continent said such blockades have potential devastating consequences for economy, education and health, and prevent citizens to access news and to engage socially. “We hope that the government of Cameroon, and others will share our concern and facilitate the access of internet and mobile phone services to all its citizens,” Mo Ibrahim urged in the statement.

The Mo Ibrahim statement coincided with the Prime Minister’s visit to the North West region in an attempt to negotiate the resumption of classes. At a stakeholders’ meeting in Bamenda on Monday, North Westerners told PM Yang that schools will only re-open if detained strike leaders are released, internet restored and the region demilitarized.

One of the speakers at the meeting, Hon Wilfred Fusi Naamukong told the PM and his entourage that the state hasn’t yet given a statement to apologize for the massive killings orchestrated by armed government troops on unarmed civilians carrying out peaceful protests. “Our detainees because of these grievances that the president himself has acknowledged should be freed and our internet restored,” the people’s representative told the government envoys as an obligation for school resumption in the region.

In response, the Head of Government urged the population of his native region not to sacrifice the education of their children for whatever grievances. “The greatest empowerment you can ever have is education. Don’t give it away for anything even if you are angry and you don’t eat. Even if you cannot go out to see your friends and drink a beer, do not sacrifice on education; that’s a wrong place to go. It is an embarrassment to the international scene,” the Prime Minister said calling on parents in the region to accompany their kids to school latest Tuesday March 7. However, the plea seems to have fallen on deaf ears as schools are yet to resume in the region.

Cameroun Info Net

Explosive growth in Cameroon’s White weapon sale

8, March 2017

Explosive growth in Cameroon’s White weapon sale 0

White weapons and all dangerous objects that can kill are now sold on the streets or in bars in Cameroon. The phenomenon is growing at catastrophic rapidity in the nation’s capital, Yaoundé, Douala and in many towns and cities in the country.

Universities graduates who can find jobs are predominantly the vendors who sell knives and machetes, between 5000 and 10000 FCFA. This arms trade that takes place on the streets, precisely in the numerous bars is slowly but surely feeding the crime industry.

The Biya regime is aware of the dangers involved in the activities currently going on in the informal sector but has turned a blind eye due to its failure to resolve the issue of high rate of unemployment. According to recent figures, the unemployment rate in Cameroon is 15.5% in urban areas and 4.3% in rural areas. It is 8.8% for male youth and 23.5% for females. The overall underemployment is 84.8% among 15-24 year olds. While it is 73.1% in the 25-34 age group.

Consequently, young Cameroonians are rushing to the informal sector, to survive, hence the emergence of unframed activities such as the trading of white weapons and dangerous objects.  Anyone can buy a machete or a knife in any part of the country for any purpose.

By Sonne Peter

Philemon Yang Bamenda Mission stresses nothing as regards to the connectedness, contestedness and complexity of happenings in Southern Cameroons

8, March 2017

Philemon Yang Bamenda Mission stresses nothing as regards to the connectedness, contestedness and complexity of happenings in Southern Cameroons 0

Southern Cameroon’s pain commands international headlines, demands quick action and sets the scene for a geopolitical drama on Cameroon’s future power in the CEMAC-Sub Saharan region.  The poor handling of the Anglophone crisis by the Biya Beti Ewondo regime is pushing the intractable conflict to get worse before it gets better.  What can be done about it needs much more informed and constructive African Union debate, especially in Abuja which will bear many of the actual and potential consequences if Anglophones should secede from La Republique du Cameroun.

Since 2016, there has been a systematically Bokoharamization by troops loyal to the regime in Yaoundé of West Cameroon. For several months, Anglophone Cameroon has witnessed rapes, extra judicial killings and hundreds of abductions.  The North West and South West CPDM political elites blame each other, with none citing the numerous atrocities committed against their own people by Francophone soldiers deployed to the region. The Cameroon Anglophone Civil Society Consortium and its leadership have been targeted. Internet connection in Southern Cameroons has been shut down.  Unconfirmed reports say hundreds of innocent Southern Cameroonians youths have been killed and buried in mass graves in the Soa locality near Yaoundé. Prominent Anglophone judges and lawyers have been arrested.   These are war crimes, documented on the ground and in appalling TV and social media footage.

The only prominent Anglophone citizen in the Biya regime, Prime Minister Yang Philemon has failed to take genuine actions to tackle the escalation, arising from La Republique du Cameroun’s ruthless military campaign to bully Southern Cameroonians to submission. The 84 year old President Biya’s failure to engage the Cameroon Anglophone Civil Society Consortium on the Anglophone crisis adds to uncertainty over the fragmented peace that reigns in the country.

Taking advantage

The political rhetoric coming out of Yaoundé has been very telling. Francophone media gurus have described the Anglophone people as “rats”. President Biya in his nationwide address said Anglophones were extremists and terrorists. Higher Education Minister, Fame Ndongo observed that Southern Cameroonians were like a fly in an ointment. The Biya regime is taking advantage of the division that exists among the Southern Cameroon groups both at home and in the Diaspora to assert its military and political roles in the territory while Abuja is cautious on supporting the Consortium for fear of an escalation into war with Biafra.

Whoever wins in this current Anglophone crisis will have to deal with an armed conflict in the nearest future. In the meantime, Prime Minister Philemon Yang is struggling alone to develop a coherent approach to the diplomacy on the Southern Cameroons crisis amid demands by Southern Cameroonians that the Biya Francophone government should do more by releasing all Anglophone detainees including the leaders of the Consortium, reinstate internet services in Southern Cameroons and engaged in meaning dialogue with the Cameroon Anglophone Civil Society Consortium.

Philemon Yang’s recent decision to tour the Bamenda province of Southern Cameroons could be seen as another form of provocation coming from the Yaoundé regime. The Prime Minister is in the North West with nothing to offer. To be sure, his trip stresses nothing as regards to the connectedness, contestedness and complexity of happenings in Southern Cameroons. Biya should be at the center of the diplomacy on Southern Cameroons not Philemon Yang.  Philemon Yang does not have the political acumen and authority to open small spaces that can lead to sane political solutions on the Anglophone problem. The Prime Minister’s Bamenda trip is not a worthy endeavour.

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai

Biya and British High Commissioner hold “tense” Southern Cameroons talk

8, March 2017

Biya and British High Commissioner hold “tense” Southern Cameroons talk 5

President Paul BIYA has granted an audience to the British High Commissioner to Cameroon, Brian Olley. Both men met on Wednesday 7 March 2017 at the presidential palace and held intensive and productive discussions on the situation in Southern Cameroons and to reinforce the long-lasting partnership between the United Kingdom and Cameroon.

The British Diplomat briefed reporters on the subjects raised during the audience. He emphasized on the necessity to strategize on the future of the Commonwealth because the UK will host next year’s Commonwealth summit. Brian Olley said they also discussed the fight against terrorism and the economic situation in the CEMAC sub-region.

The British top diplomat reiterated Her Majesty’s government desire to work closely with Yaoundé, to resolve the social tension in the North West and South West regions. The Southern Cameroons talks were frank, candid and thoughtful. It was equally revealed that economic negotiations between both countries are progressing smoothly. The British Government is ready to facilitate investments worth 3 billion U.S. dollars in Cameroon.

There are plans to construct 13 water networks, introduce an electronic visa issuing system, and extend the electricity contract with Actis. In addition, there is the construction of social houses in Douala, as announced in November 2016.

By Rita Akana with files from the presidency

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