Headline News

10, November 2023

Yaoundé: Biya bids Ambassador Bashkin of Russia farewell ⁰

The 90-year-old Cameroonian dictator met the outgoing Russian ambassador at the so-called Unity Palace.

Ambassador Anatoly Bashkin made a review of the latter’s 6-year mission to Cameroon with a particular focus on Biya’s participation at the recent second Russia-Africa Summit.

Mr Bashkin reminded Biya of the issues President Vladimir Putin raised in Saint Petersburg and acknowledged the expansion of bilateral ties and to boost economic cooperation.

The Russian Diplomat announced preparations for the commemoration of the 60th anniversary of diplomatic ties between Yaounde and Moscow next year.

By Rita Akana in Yaoundé

9, November 2023

Biya sets up committee to fight money laundering, terrorist financing ⁰

President Paul Biya on Monday night signed a decree for establishing a committee against money laundering, terrorist financing and proliferation of weapons of mass destruction.

The committee has a mandate to formulate and coordinate the implementation of policies and activities aimed at combating the criminal activities nationwide, Biya said in the decree.

“(The committee) shall make proposals for the drafting of appropriate regulations for combating money laundering, terrorist financing and proliferation of weapons of mass destruction in accordance with international guidelines … and conduct risk assessments and formulate the national strategy for combating (the vices),” Biya said.

Officials said that the establishment of the committee could uncover underground banking crimes lawfully, dismantle criminal organizations and gangs, block illicit fund channels, and stop the proliferation of weapons in the country’s Northwest, Southwest and Far North regions, which are experiencing prolonged armed conflict.

Source: Xinhuanet

9, November 2023

Manyu CPDM Leadership: Sheep leading giants ⁰

Any meeting intended to mobilize people to celebrate a disastrous leader in a failed state in the middle of a war and a cost-of-living crisis is likely to provoke strong emotions and should never be considered. Such meetings won’t be contemplated in any country where decent values and uprightness are second nature. CPDM political meetings around Southern Cameroons have been considered controversial, provocative and banned for over six years. The last CPDM assembly in Mamfe on Monday, 6th November, moved from controversial to pitiful. The meeting was held a few hours after the cruel massacre of over 25 innocent and defenseless people in Egbekaw village. The purpose of the meeting was for the leaders of the CPDM crime syndicate in Manyu to celebrate 41 years of Paul Biya on Cameroon’s throne.

It offered the Manyu CPDM criminals a rare opportunity to send photographic evidence to the CPDM central committee in Yaoundé that they were still loyal to the country’s Supreme leader, Paul Biya. After the Egbekaw massacre, the overwhelming majority of people in Mamfe thought that the assembly should have been cancelled. The people of Mamfe wanted a peaceful march around the city to express solidarity and demonstrate empathy and sympathy with the families of those who lost their lives in tragic and inhuman circumstances. However, the so-called Manyu CPDM elites were not in the mood for compassion. They had come to Mamfe under the protection of armoured vehicles designed for the streets of Ukraine and nothing would stop them—not even the worst massacre in Manyu in over 18 months.

And so, the celebration went ahead under a pathetic spectacle. Chief Tabetando of Bachou Ntai village looked every inch as frail as his boss, Niat Njifenji, the senate president. The Chief could hardly stand without the aid of his walking stick. Minister Mengot Arrey Nkongho appeared reddish in complexion, a considerable worry for a man who prides himself on his looks. The minister must have sat in an uncomfortable position for hours, squeezed inside the armoured tank that transported them from Muea to Mamfe. The minister looked apprehensive, shaken and wore the look of a man with a running stomach. The sight of the day belonged to Chief Prof Teddy Ako of the Chiefdom of Ossing. Cameroon Concord News has reliable information that Chief Ako is a decent man dragged reluctantly into CPDM politics by the other gang members. Chief Ako’s CPDM shirt was four sizes too large for him. It looked on him like a carpenter stitched it. Then, there was the former Mayor of Mamfe, one Mr Ayuk Takunchong, notorious for always hugging the corridors of power in search of leftovers.

The meeting went ahead with these clowns taking turns to read messages of support to Mr Biya. A sorrowful sight indeed! As people cried in Egbekaw and the hospital mortuary, these thugs sat down, ate, drank and celebrated forty-one years of misery. It was scandalous and criminal.

The quality of Manyu leaders today is a considerable worry. They are political comics pretending to lead a people desperate for strong and upright leadership. Pa Enow Tanjong, the late Chief ET Egbe including the late Hon Effiom, and Chief Michael Tambong Kima will be turning in their graves with fury as they watch these delinquents and petty criminals making a mockery of the art of leadership.

These are complex times for Cameroon and Manyu when intellectual and political giants are required to lead, but unfortunately, clowns have the levers of power. The CPDM does not welcome brave and gifted visionaries; therefore, the future of Manyu and Cameroon is in serious trouble.

By Agbor Paul Enow in Mamfe

9, November 2023

France: ex-president Sarkozy appeals 2012 campaign fraud conviction ⁰

A Paris court on Wednesday began hearing former president Nicolas Sarkozy’s appeal against his conviction for illegal campaign financing in a failed 2012 re-election bid.

The 68-year-old former French head of state appeared relaxed as he appeared for the hearing in a grey suit, speaking with people in the public gallery before proceedings began.

Conservative Sarkozy has faced a litany of legal problems since his one term in office from 2007 until 2012, and has been charged separately with corruption, bribery, influence-peddling, and breaking campaign financing laws.

In the so-called “Bygmalion affair”, the former head of state was sentenced to one year in prison in September 2021 on charges that his right-wing party, then known as the UMP, worked with a public relations firm to hide the true cost of his 2012 re-election bid.

France sets strict limits on campaign spending.

Prosecutors said that the firm, Bygmalion, invoiced the UMP rather than the campaign. They said Sarkozy spent nearly 43 million euros on his 2012 campaign, almost double the permitted amount of 22.5 million euros.

Thirteen other people — including members of the UMP party, accountants and Bygmalion executives — were found guilty of various charges, ranging from forgery and fraud to complicity in illegal campaign financing.

In the original trial, only four defendants, including the deputy head of the campaign, Jerome Lavrilleux, admitted any responsibility.

Sarkozy denied all wrongdoing, insisting that while there had indeed been “false invoices and fictitious agreements… the money had not gone into (his) campaign”.

The appeal trial is scheduled to last nearly five weeks, with Sarkozy slated to testify on November 23.

Contacted by AFP, Sarkozy’s lawyers declined to issue any statements prior to the hearing.

Sarkozy, who was criticised by the prosecution in the original trial for only turning up for the day of his actual hearing and deeming himself to be “above the fray”, is expected to attend some of the most important sessions this time around.

He was charged last month in a separate witness tampering case relating to alleged Libyan financing of his 2007 presidential win.

Sarkozy also faces a separate probe into possible potential influence-peddling after he received a payment by Russian insurance firm Reso-Garantia of three million euros in 2019 while working as a consultant.

Despite his legal troubles, Sarkozy remains a hugely influential figure on the French right, courted by politicians and writing regular books that are major publishing events.

Source: AFP

7, November 2023

Bishop Abangalo condemns killing of dozens in Egbekaw village attack ⁰

The Catholic Bishop of Mamfe Diocese in Cameroon has “vehemently condemned” the killing of innocent civilians following an attack at the new Layout Egbekaw, a locality within his Episcopal See.

On November 6, unidentified gunmen reportedly opened fire on people as they slept in Egbekaw leaving at least 20 dead, many others injured and houses burnt down.

In a statement shared with ACI Africa Monday, November 6, Bishop Aloysius Fondong Abangalo provided details about the attack in his Episcopal See.

“On the early hours of Monday 6th of November 2023, several persons were killed, others gravely injured and a good number of houses burned down by unidentified Gunmen at Egbekaw village in Mamfe Central Subdivision. Up till this moment, we cannot find any reasons to justify this heinous act,” Bishop Abangalo recounted.

He added, “We vehemently condemn the atrocious act that brought about the destruction of the lives of so many innocent men, women, and children.”

“The massacre of human beings is an intrinsically evil act because it violates the fifth commandment of the Decalogue: You shall not kill,” the Cameroonian Bishop said.

He noted that the Catechism of the Catholic Church clearly explains the reason why the killing of a human being is inadmissible: “Human life is sacred because from its beginning it involves the creative action of God and it remains forever in a special relationship with the Creator, who is its sole end. God alone is the Lord of life from its beginning until its end: no one can under any circumstance claim for himself the right directly to destroy an innocent human being.”

The 50-year-old Cameroonian Bishop who started his Episcopal Ministry in May 2022 further said, “We equally use this medium to extend our sincere condolences to the bereaved families and to assure them of our closeness and prayers during this moment of pain and sorrow.”

“We have decided that Holy Mass will be celebrated in the Saint Joseph’s Cathedral Church, Mamfe, on Tuesday 7th November, 2023, at 8.00 a.m., for the eternal repose of the souls of those murdered; for the quick recovery of those gravely injured; and, for the conversion of those who perpetrated the heinous act,” Bishop Abangalo said.

Cameroon’s English-speaking regions plunged into conflict in 2016 after a protest by lawyers and teachers turned violent. An armed movement of separatists claiming independence for the so-called republic of Ambazonia emerged following the government’s crackdown on protesters.

Source: aciAfrica

7, November 2023

Biya’s 41 Years in Power: The scorecard is dismal! ⁰

Today marks forty-one years since Cameroon’s President, Paul Biya, took over from the country’s first President, Amadou Ahidjo, who resigned supposedly for health reasons. Ahidjo, the man who had made Cameroon the purpose of his being, had always dreamed of transforming the country into an earthly paradise.

He had designed the educational system to enable Cameroonians compete favorably at the international level. The quality of education was good and this helped the country to make giant strides towards sustainable development. Though the country was bereft of massive financial resources, the country’s first president made up for this shortage of financial resources with discipline and determination.

Due to the lack of resources, the country did not have a good road network, but from 1977 when oil was discovered, the country’s fortunes changed for the better. Many infrastructure development projects were lined up and their implementation was marked by rigor and discipline.

But this changed in 1982 when Mr. Biya succeeded Ahidjo. Though he had served as the country’s Prime Minister under Ahidjo, he had not learned that discipline was a key ingredient in the implementation of national policies and projects. No initiative succeeds without discipline!

By 1985, the country’s economy and politics were already showing signs of chaos. Discipline which characterized the Ahidjo regime had taken French leave of the Biya regime. Mr. Biya, unlike Ahidjo, had prioritized loyalty over competence and this has cost the country a huge fortune. He brought his tribesmen into government without conducting the proper background checks and there are lots of crooks and dishonest people in the system.

Though the Centre and South regions of Cameroon account for less than 10% of the country’s population, Mr. Biya tribesmen make for more than 70% of appointed government officials, with many not having the appropriate experience and qualifications to drive major operations and policies!

Today, the country has one of the worst road networks on the continent. Each day, thousands of Cameroonians die of road accidents and, for decades, the government has not found it necessary to develop road infrastructure which will reduce both travel times and death toll on the country’s roads. Times have changed but the Biya regime is frozen in time.

Regarding the economy, things are not looking good for the country. Unemployment is high; many young Cameroonians are looking outward. Government policy regarding employment in the civil service has left many from other tribes desperate. Loyalty trumps over qualification and in certain cases, many people have been caught with fake certificates, especially people from the president’s tribe.

Universities which are supposed to serve as centers of excellence have been transformed into brothels as the culture of sex-for-marks has been fully entrenched and this is happening with the tacit approval of the country’s authorities. The country’s higher education minister, Fame Ndongo, has been presiding over this mess as he himself has been at the centre of massive sex scandals in the ministry he leads.

Mr. Biya and his ruling CPDM may be celebrating today, but they know they have brought untold hardship on Cameroonians. Most young Cameroonians want to leave the country and even retirees are relocating to countries like the U.S and Canada because their retirement incomes leave much to be desired.

The country is amongst the dirtiest on the continent with its towns and cities not going through any form of town planning. The government does not seem to have an inkling of structured existence as slums are popping up all over the nation.

Regarding security, the government is struggling. Crime rate has increased significantly, with soldiers and police officers even renting out their weapons to criminals for a fee. Even when the population reports a crime, the police hardly act. It is always a waste of time for police officers to be called to the crime scene as they will never make it.

Either there is no fuel in the car for them to use, or when there is a car, there is no fuel. Sometimes, security forces even seek to know the type of weapons the criminals are carrying. This is to ensure that they do not get into a fierce fight with heavily armed criminals. Kind police officers will even tell the frightened victims to call neighbors to help them. That is the country Mr. Biya will be leaving for future generations.

Mr. Biya has been a master at divide-and-rule. He has succeeded to pit tribes against tribe, and there is evidence that the day he exits, there will be bloodshed in the country. Currently, there are killings going on in Southern Cameroons where a fierce rebellion against the Yaoundé government has sent some ten thousand Cameroonians to an early grave and things could get worse if Mr. Biya suddenly dies.

For the public service, it is the worst the continent has. Corruption is rife and Cameroonians have to pay millions of francs to get admission into professional schools. Every sector of the public service has come up with a scheme to exploit the ordinary citizen and the country’s authorities have decided to look the other way while government officials exploit their fellow citizens.

Cameroon under Mr. Biya has been a living hell. Many Cameroonians prefer to look outwards as the government has failed to create opportunities for its citizens. 41 years in power have rolled the country back into grinding poverty and, in development terms, the country has been taken back by at least 100 years. Today’s celebrations could be described as a celebration of failure, inefficiency, greed, corruption and dishonesty. This is the legacy Mr. Biya will be leaving behind.

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai

6, November 2023

Mamfe: 20 killed in Egbekaw village attack ⁰

Separatist rebels killed around 20 people, including women and children, on Monday in Egbekaw a village in Mamfe the chief town in Manyu.

The overnight attack occurred in Egbekaw village, the scene of deadly clashes between rebels and government forces for seven years.

“The attack left around 20 dead, men, women and children, and 10 seriously injured people are in hospital,” a senior regional administrative official said on condition of anonymity.

A security forces official and an official from a governmental body also confirmed the attack and provisional toll.

Cameroon’s primarily English-speaking Northwest and Southwest regions have been gripped by conflict since separatists declared independence in 2017.

It followed decades of grievances over perceived discrimination by the francophone majority.

President Paul Biya, 90, who has ruled the central African nation with an iron fist for 41 years to the day, has resisted calls for wider autonomy and responded with a crackdown.

The conflict has claimed more than 6,000 lives and forced more than a million people to flee their homes, according to the International Crisis Group.

Both the separatists and government forces have been accused of atrocities in the fighting.

Rebels “attacked the civilian populations of Egbekaw and the provisional toll is 23 dead and around 15 houses burnt,” a local gendarmerie officer told AFP by telephone, also speaking on condition of anonymity.

An official from the country’s human rights commission confirmed the attack and spoke of 15 dead. “But this figure can evolve,” the source told AFP.

There had been no claim of responsibility over the attack on Egbekaw.

“It happened at 4:00 am. Armed young people came and fired on sleeping residents in their houses and set a whole block of houses on fire,” a resident told AFP by telephone requesting not to be identified out of security concerns.

“Twenty-three people have already been removed from the debris, some of whom are not even recognisable because of the fire.”

He said there was reason to believe it was connected to the November 6 anniversary of Biya assuming power as president in 1982.

A meeting of the ruling Cameroon People’s Democratic Movement (RDPC) was planned in the area, he added.

Armed groups are regularly accused of abducting, killing or injuring civilians whom they accuse of “collaborating” with Cameroonian authorities.

Security forces are also often accused by international NGOs and the United Nations of killings and torture against civilians suspected of sympathising with the rebels.

Last month, rebels “summarily executed” two villagers in public in the Northwest region whom they accused of collaborating with the army.

In July, Amnesty International reported that security forces, separatist rebels and ethnic militiamen had committed “atrocities” in the Northwest Region, including executions, torture and rape.

By Alain Tabot-Tanyi

6, November 2023

Yaoundé: 77 private companies barred from public procurement ⁰

Seventy-seven private companies were denied government contracts last year, according to a document presented last October 27 by the National Anti-Corruption Commission (Conac).

The decision followed cases of irregularities identified in the execution of the contracts previously awarded to them. These include issues such as incomplete projects, abandoned construction sites, and financial shortcomings.

As per the Public Contracts Code, the ban on participating in public procurement cannot exceed two years. Further violations by the same companies might lead to permanent exclusion, under regulatory guidelines. Apart from these bans, Conac did not outline any additional sanctions imposed on the affected companies.

Individuals or companies facing these restrictions are not eligible for administrative purchase order procedures or public contracts. While the government sees this as an effective means to filter bidders, some industry players believe it’s not effective against providers who simply change their company names or managers and reapply. In 2020, the Ministry of Public Contracts published a list of 369 providers suspended from public procurement, particularly for abandoning construction sites.

Source: Business in Cameroon

6, November 2023

Yaoundé: Biya marks 41 years in power ⁰

90-year-old Biya is marking today (Nov. 06) his 41 year-rule over the divided Cameroonian nation.

Last year, thousands gathered in Yaoundé, for the occasion but the president did not attend.

Paul Biya, a former Prime Minister, took the reins of Cameroon on November 6, 1982 following the resignation of the country’s first president Ahmadou Ahidjo.

Many voices within the ruling CPDM crime syndicate have already called for him to vie in the 2025 presidential election for an 8th, 7-year term.

Critics of his regime, however, wore black on Sunday. Some cited corruption, bad governance, and an ongoing succession battle.

Biya who celebrated his 90th anniversary last February is Africa’s second-longest serving leader.

Under him, Cameroon has faced challenges in recent years that range from a secessionist movement in the country’s English-speaking regions to the threat in the north posed by Islamic extremists aligned with the Nigeria-based Boko Haram group.

Paul Biya last won a presidential election in 2018.

Source: Africa News

6, November 2023

Southern Cameroons Crisis: Independence gone wrong! ⁰

Southern Cameroonians thought a new independent state would rid them of the marginalization they had been victims of in Cameroon for six years, but most of them are gradually discovering that marginalization is a lesser evil to the terrorism which is being practiced on them by their so-called liberators. Their dream of a beautiful Southern Cameroons has turned into a never-ending nightmare.

For over two years, the Yaoundé government had modified its war plan, walking away from collective killings and punishment to silent diplomacy, with the country’s Prime Minister, Dion Ngute, working hard behind the scenes to involve the Canadian government in talks which were supposed to bring peace to Cameroon.

Though the Prime Minister’s plan was scuttled by members of his own government, Mr. Ngute and his supporters have not relented when it comes to engineering peace in Southern Cameroons.

While the government has changed its ways in a positive way, the separatists, for their part, have also changed their ways, unfortunately in a very bad way.

They have become the face of death and destruction. Fighters, who said they were fighting the government in protection of their people, have today become a real millstone around the people’s neck.

Kidnappings, summary executions, extortion and intimidation have become their stock in trade. Those who said they were protecting their people, prompting huge financial contributions from the Diaspora, are those who are killing their own people in cold blood.

Today, Mamfe is in blood and tears. Separatists’ fighters have once more proven that if they had had an independent state, Afghanistan and other rogue nations around the world would have been better than Southern Cameroons.

Separatists’ fighters have chopped off the hands of their people just because their people wanted to work. They have robbed children in rural areas of their right to education. They have impregnated young girls, some of whom are less than 12 years. And today, many people cannot bury their loved ones in peace in many parts of Southern Cameroons. The so-called fighters charge the bereaved huges amounts of money if they want to bury their loved ones in their villages.

But it seems they are not yet done. Their list of crimes and sins is very long and very early today, they demonstrated in Egbekaw New Lay-out in Mamfe that their version of Independence is predicated upon extreme violence and death.

More than 25 people have lost their lives today in Mamfe through senseless killings and more than 20 homes have been burned. The criminals left the crime scenes once they set fire to those homes, unfortunately for them, some of their members were identified and they have already been reported to the gendarmerie brigade in Egbekaw-Mamfe.

In the past, apologists of these separatists would be quick to point out that some of those atrocities were being committed by the Cameroon army. The Mamfe District Hospital, one of the finest in the country, was burned down by these “fake fighters of independence” and a thorough investigation by the Cameroon Concord News Group clearly exonerated the military.

From burning houses and slaughtering soldiers, these separatists are today slaughtering their own people and they seem to take pleasure in killing the people they said they wanted to protect. Which liberators kill their own people and refuse their own children from going to school? Where in the world has a country developed without educated minds? Even in the Dark Ages, those with enlightened minds were the pillars of social engineering and development but in Southern Cameroons, a drug- and alcohol-inflamed bunch is dictating things, prioritizing illiteracy over literacy.

For more than seven years, these members of a cloak-and-dagger organization who pass off as liberators have been suffocating the Southern Cameroonian economy through sterile and meaningless “ghost town” operations which have left many unemployed and economically desperate.

Southern Cameroonians who saw hope through their rebellion, are today asking themselves if it was even necessary to challenge the Yaoundé government.

A noble struggle, once led by the mild-minded Sisisku Julius Ayuk Tabe, has been hijacked by people of the underworld who are using violence and intimidation to keep the people in check and in extreme poverty.

Nobody can stop these violent elements from causing havoc in places like Mamfe, except the residents of the town. Those who have sent some 25 residents of Mamfe to an early grave are the sons of Manyu. It will be preposterous for the people of Mamfe to think that their enemies have come from somewhere else.

The so-called revolution had failed. The revolution is consuming its own people. If the people of Mamfe in particular and Manyu in general have to put an end to this endemic violence, then they must cooperate with government security operatives.

They must report those criminals living in their communities to the government for proper action to be taken.

The Cameroon Concord News Group clearly condemns what has happened in Mamfe and has already despatched its reporters to Mamfe for a comprehensive coverage of this unfortunate situation.

More will be yours as the Group’s reporters file in their reports.

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai and Joachim Arrey