Headline News

8, June 2016

Nigeria to stop military campaign in Niger Delta ⁰

Nigeria will scale down a military campaign in the oil-producing Niger Delta and talk to the Niger Delta Avengers militant group which has claimed a string of attacks there that sharply cut crude output, officials said. But the militant group said in a statement, without mentioning the government initiative, its mandate was “to liberate the Niger Delta people.” The government has also decided that the military presence in the region, which had been increased in the last few weeks, should be scaled down, a statement issued by the vice president’s office said on Tuesday.

The southern Delta swamps, where many complain of poverty and oil spills, have been hit by militant attacks on oil and gas pipelines which have brought Nigeria’s oil output to a 20-year low, and helped push oil prices to 2016 highs on Tuesday. President Muhammadu Buhari had appointed a team led by the national security adviser “to begin the process of a very intensive dialogue with those caught in the middle of this,” Oil Minister Emmanuel Ibe Kachikwu said late on Monday.

“I want to call on the militants to sheath their weapons and embrace dialogue with government,” he said. “We are making contacts with everybody who is involved, the ones that we can identify, through them, the ones that we can’t identify so that there is a lot more inclusiveness in this dialogue.” “Probably we will suspend the operations of the military in the region for a week or two for individuals in the creeks to converge for the dialogue,” he said. Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, who had been expected to travel to London to meet investors on Tuesday, instead met Niger Delta state governors and military chiefs to discuss ways to end the militancy.

A statement from Osinbajo’s office said it had been decided at the meeting that the military presence in the region should be “de-escalated,” although forces would be kept to provide security for the talks. Adding to the problems of authorities trying to stem the violence, a group in the southeast calling for secession declared support for the Avengers. “We support the Niger Delta Avengers,” said Uche Madu, a spokesman for the Movement for the Actualization of the Sovereign State of Biafra (Massob) which wants secession for the region which fought a civil war from 1967-70.

A former militant group, the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta, which laid down arms in 2009 under a government amnesty, accused the army of a “disproportionate use of force.” MEND, which was one of the largest militant groups, also said the Delta Avengers had attracted some of its former fighters. So far it has been unclear who is behind the Avengers. There was no immediate direct response from the Avengers on the dialogue initiative. On its Twitter account it only issued a statement framing MEND leaders as criminals. “Our struggle is focussed on the liberation of the People of Niger Delta from decades of divisive rule and exclusion,” it said. Kachikwu also said Nigeria’s oil output was between 1.5 million and 1.6 million barrels a day, down from 2.2 million barrels at the start of the year. “Over the last two months, we have probably lost about 600,000 barrels from various attacks of militants in the area,” he said.

DefenceWeb

8, June 2016

Egyptian passenger plane makes emergency landing due to a bomb threat ⁰

An Egyptian passenger plane, en route from Cairo to Beijing, makes an emergency landing in Uzbekistan due to a bomb threat, a report says.State carrier Uzbekistan Airways said on Wednesday that there were 118 passengers and 17 crew members on board, all of whom were safely evacuated. Egyptian aviation sources said a false bomb threat forced the EgyptAir flight to make the emergency landing. The plane, an Airbus A-330-220, landed in Uzbekistan three hours after it took off from Cairo at around 11:30 p.m. on Tuesday.

It landed at the airport in the town of Urgench, about 840 kilometers (600 miles) west of the Uzbek capital, Tashkent. Officials said an anonymous caller telephoned security agents at the Cairo airport to say that a bomb was on board the flight. The plane was searched after landing, but no explosives were found, they said. EgyptAir has received a number of bomb threats since one of its aircraft crashed into the Mediterranean on May 19, killing all 66 people aboard the Airbus A320 jetliner. All those threats have turned out to be hoaxes.

Egypt’s aviation industry has been under international scrutiny since Oct. 31, when a Russian Airbus A321 crashed in the Sinai Peninsula, killing all 224 people aboard. The plane was traveling to St. Petersburg from the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh. Russia said the crash was caused by a bomb planted on the plane, and the local branch of Daesh claimed responsibility. The incidents have further damaged Egypt’s tourism industry which is already reeling from years of political turmoil.

Presstv

8, June 2016

Stephen Keshi is no more!!! ⁰

One of African football’s best-known figures, Stephen Keshi, has died at the age of 54, the Nigeria Football Federation has said. A former captain of the Nigeria national team, Keshi was one of only two men to win the Africa Cup of Nations both as a player and a coach. He also managed Togo and Mali, and his playing career included a spell for Belgian club side Anderlecht.

He is thought to have suffered a heart attack, local media reported. As a player, Keshi was part of the Super Eagles team that won the Nations Cup in 1994 and narrowly missed out on a World Cup quarter-final place the same year. He coached the national side over three spells, leading Nigeria to the 2013 Nations Cup title in South Africa and the last 16 at the 2014 World Cup in Brazil.

His contract was not renewed after the World Cup but he later returned on a match-by-match deal following the team’s failure to reach the 2015 Nations Cup finals. He was then sacked as caretaker coach but reinstated after intervention from then Nigeria president Goodluck Jonathan. He was sacked for a final time last July.

BBC

8, June 2016

Cameroon tightens security at the National Assembly ⁰

As the second ordinary session of the National Assembly for the 2016 legislative year rolls on, the Ngoa-Ekelle Glass House is as busy as a bee hive. Conscious of the security context prevailing in the country faces at the moment from the Boko Haram terrorist sect, a series of preventive security measures have been put in place to pre-empt any nasty scenario.

As a sensible state institution, the National Assembly has within its premises a permanent detachment of the National Gendarmerie tasked with ensuring security of both the personnel and property. In the case of an event like parliamentary sessions, security measures are further beefed up given that it attract people across the board, including Members of Parliament, cabinet ministers, members of the diplomatic corps and the general public.

Within the context of the ongoing parliamentary session, the Secretary General of the National Assembly, Victor YeneOssomba, signed an internal communiqué (posted on the notice board of the National Assembly) with specific security measures to be observed by everyone.

The systematic check of persons and vehicles is a condition sin quo-non forentryto the premises of the National Assembly. Not only has the entrance from the Lycée Bilingued’Application (LBA) end been temporarily closed, but there is a considerable limitation of the number of visitors to Glass House. The measures also include the prohibition of dressing that does not allow immediate identification as well as gatherings within the precincts of the institution.

Cameroon Tribune

8, June 2016

CPDM Senate approves Paris Climate Change Agreement ⁰

The bill to authorize the President of the Republic to ratify the Paris Agreement on Climate Change was yesterday, June 7, 2016 declared admissible for scrutiny by the Chairmen’s Conference of the Senate chaired by Senate President, Marcel Niat Njifenji. The bill was submitted by government, represented by the Minister Delegate to the Minister of Territorial Administration and Decentralisation in charge of Regional and Local Authorities, Jules Doret Ndongo.

The Paris Climate Agreement was adopted during the 21^st session of the Conference of Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP 21) that held in the French capital from November 30 to December 13, 2015. The agreement, which was later signed in New York on April 22, 2016, aims at strengthening global riposte to threats posed by climate change within a context of sustainable development and the fight against poverty.

According to government, the ratification of the agreement by Cameroon is the expression of its will to synergize with the international community to fight climate change and could enable the country benefit from financial opportunities offered by its partners for the implementation of decisions taken at COP 21.

Cameroon Tribune

8, June 2016

Cameroon trains 20 media gurus on blood donation coverage ⁰

In prelude to the 2016 World Blood Donor Day to be commemorated on June 14, this year, the National Blood Transfusion Program on June 7, 2016 in Yaounde organised a session to train some 20 media practitioners on the right information to diffuse to the public as far as blood donation is concerned. During the training, it was revealed that blood donation is a voluntary act that should be practiced by everybody.

The Permanent Secretary for the National Blood Transfusion Program, Dr Appolonie Noah Owona said when listening to the radio as well as reading newspapers, one gets the impression that media practitioners do not have sufficient knowledge on blood donation which is different from blood transfusion. In Cameroon, Dr Noah Owona explained, the first problem of blood transfusion is blood donation. She stressed that there is need for all stakeholders to know that they have to sensitise the population to know that their blood is needed.

Besides an equipped infrastructure for blood transfusion, she said there is need for blood which should come from people in the society. That is why the media is important in letting the population know that they need to donate their blood. She stressed that blood is not sold in Cameroon. But for blood to be qualified for transfusion, that blood needs to be tested. As such, the money people give to have blood transfusion is that which is used to qualify the blood for transfusion.

She argued that this money is quite minimal as compared to that which is given in developed countries. An administrator at the National Blood Transfusion Program, Stephan Assako said the problem of blood transfusion is serious as some 400,000 blood banks are needed each year in the country and few people are ready to give their blood. Thus, the program needs to organise its system through a special communication strategy which will encourage citizens to cultivate the habit of freely donating their blood after every three months.

Cameroon Tribune

7, June 2016

War on terror: Boko Haram kills 8 Cameroonian fishermen, injures 3 soldiers ⁰

Ten bodies presented as fishermen; 8 Cameroonians and 2 Chadian were discovered at dawn today by residents of Darak in the Lake Chad area. They were reportedly killed during a raid attributed to Boko Haram which has recently pledged allegiance to the Organization of Islamic State in West Africa. In another development in the war on terror, a Boko Haram mine exploded under an army patrol vehicle on the Kolofata- Amchide-axis in the Far North region. Three Cameroonian soldiers were injured in the explosion.

CIR

7, June 2016

50,000 flee Boko Haram in Niger ⁰

Tens of thousands of people have fled a town in the troubled southeastern Niger following deadly attacks by Takfiri Boko Haram terrorist group, the UN refugee agency says. Adrian Edwards, the spokesman for United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), told reporters in Geneva on Tuesday that some 50,000 people fled the town of Bosso in the country’s troubled Diffa region near the Nigerian border.

The spokesman noted that most of those fleeing the violence walked toward the village of Toumour, which is located some 30 kilometers west of Bosso. “Many people are reportedly traumatized and worried about their safety,” he said. The UN sources say people are sleeping in the open and urgently need shelter and other assistance.

Boko Haram militants first took the town of Bosso on Friday in an attack in which 30 soldiers from Niger and two from Nigeria were killed. A total of 55 militants from the Nigeria-based militant group were also killed during the fierce fighting. The terrorists reportedly torched military barracks, police facilities and looted shops during the terror campaign in the town. The ambush and looting came as Niger’s army was preparing to attack Boko Haram in the Lake Chad region, which straddles Nigeria, Cameroon, Chad and Niger.

UN figures show that the violence by Boko Haram militants have displaced more than 240,000 people across the Diffa region over past months. The UN’s Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs recently said that more than nine million people living in the Lake Chad region are in dire need of food aid, blaming Boko Haram for triggering the unrest in the area.

Presstv

7, June 2016

UN Economic Commission for Africa says “Cameroonian city dwellers live below UN poverty line” ⁰

The United Nations Economic Commission for Africa has reported that most Cameroonian city dwellers still live below UN poverty line. The declaration was made public during the fourth dialogue on development planning in Africa. The three day forum that focused on integrating urbanization in national development planning in Africa was also geared at sensitizing all 54 African countries on practical urbanization policies.

During the atelier, the UN body hinted that the percentage of Africans living in urban areas has increased to 40% with 55% GDP. The UN Economic Commission for Africa further observed that Cameroon’s rate of urbanization was 55% including 312 towns. The UN regretted that most city dwellers still live in abject poverty and are subject to economic, social, cultural and environmental difficulties which most at times leads to social instability.

The diversified seminar was attended by the Ministers of Urban Development and housing Jean Claude Mbwentchou and that of Economy Planning and Regional Development Louis Paul Motaze, under the chairmanship of the Resident Coordinator of the UN Moussa Abari.

CRTV

7, June 2016

Bird flu: Yaounde authorities ban the sale of roast chicken ⁰

Health authorities in Yaounde the nation’s capital have banned the sale of roast chicken following the outbreak of bird flu at the Mvog Betsi district. The decision prohibiting the sale was made public on May the 26^th 2016 by the Prefect of Mfoundi.

Unconfirmed reports say several grilled chicken traders had their goods seized by a special force under the direct supervision of the prefect of Mfoundi as part of the fight against the bird flu. We gathered that some petty traders witnessed the seizure of up to 300 chickens by the Sub-Prefect of the Yaounde II district.

Cameroon-info.net