Headline News

Mbankomo: More U-17 players fail age testing enforced by Eto’o

6, January 2023

Mbankomo: More U-17 players fail age testing enforced by Eto’o 0

Cameroon’s Under-17s face a race against time to field a team for regional African Cup of Nations qualifiers after more players failed age tests ordered by Samuel Eto’o, president of the country’s governing body, Fecafoot.

The former Barcelona and Inter Milan striker’s insistence on using Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) screening saw the squad ravaged at their training camp in Mbankomo, on the outskirt of Yaounde.

Of the initial 30-member group, 21 failed the tests.

But BBC Sport Africa now understands Cameroon have suffered a fresh setback as 11 new players also failed tests on Tuesday, with coach Jean Pierre Fiala struggling to find replacements.

Cameroon host Congo, Chad, DR Congo and Central African Republic for the Central African Football Federations’ Union (UNIFFAC) qualifiers between 12 and 24 January, with two teams progressing to April’s Under-17 Nations Cup in Algeria.

A Fecafoot statement said Eto’o gave “strict instructions” for the actions to be taken “in order to put an end to the tampering with civil status records which have, in the past, tarnished the image of Cameroon football.

“Fecafoot urges all actors, in particular educators, to ensure that the ages by category are respected.”

The fight against age cheats

Many of Africa’s international successes in junior tournaments have been clouded by allegations of the use of over-age players.

Football’s world governing body Fifa introduced MRI scans at the 2009 Under-17 World Cup, which took place in Nigeria.

The MRI works by scanning the wrist to study how advanced the bone structure is

In 2017, Fecafoot blocked 14 players from taking part in the Under-17 Afcon in Gabon after they failed the tests.

Eto’o promised to take action to combat the long-running problem when he was elected Fecafoot president in December 2021 and Simon Lyonga, a journalist with Cameroon’s national broadcaster CRTV, says the decision to weed out age cheats has been applauded by the public.

“Here in Cameroon, people are by and large pleased that Fecafoot actually seem to be doing something to try to stop the cheating,” Lyonga told BBC Sport Africa.

“It is important for the country to give chances to players of the right age.”

Cameroon have twice been continental champions at Under-17 level, in 2003 and 2019.

Source: BBC

Bakassi Peninsula: Nigerian militants kill 2 Cameroonian soldiers, Hoist Biafra Nation’s Flag

6, January 2023

Bakassi Peninsula: Nigerian militants kill 2 Cameroonian soldiers, Hoist Biafra Nation’s Flag 0

Militants, suspected to Black Marine of Biafra Nations League (BNL), have reportedly killed two Cameroonian soldiers.

The members of the militant group on Thursday were reportedly travelling toward Ikang near Nigeria’s borders when members of the Cameroon’s Rapid d’intervention Battalion (BIR) started shooting a short distance away.

According to a source, the militants retaliated by shooting one BIR and killing two BIR.

They returned to the Abana waterfront, where the Cameroon flag was flying, and fired randomly before lowering it and hoisting the Biafran flag around the voting booth.

This was not the first time BNL would attack Cameroon Brigade d’Intervention Rapide, BIR in Bakassi.

In May 2021, they engaged in a fierce gun battle at Isangele, Bakassi Peninsula area.

The gun battle reportedly left some members of the BIR dead.

The BNL Chief Head of Operations, Henry Edet, confirmed the attack in a brief statement saying, “Militant group loyal to BNL and Cameroon forces exchanged fire in Isangele, Bakassi Peninsula.”

He claimed the “Two Cameroon BIR dropped dead during an exchange of gunfire in Bakassi Peninsula.”

Recall that the BNL had recently revealed its plans to completely shut down the Gulf of Guinea, threatening to hoist the Biafran flag.

The group said it would carry out its threat of hoisting the Biafran flags in Bakassi Peninsula to mark the Biafra Day memorial.

Source: Sahara Reporters

Gianluca Vialli: Former Italy and Chelsea striker dies aged 58 after battle with pancreatic cancer

6, January 2023

Gianluca Vialli: Former Italy and Chelsea striker dies aged 58 after battle with pancreatic cancer 0

Gianluca Vialli’s death on Friday robbed Italian football of an iconic figure of its golden era, a powerful yet studious centre-forward who won almost every honour and was one of the English Premier League’s first big-name foreign imports.

Vialli, who had battled pancreatic cancer since 2017 before finally succumbing to what he called “an unwanted guest” at the age of 58, was the archetypal Italian ‘signore’, a well-dressed, well-spoken gentleman who nonetheless thrived in the bruising world of Italian football.

His glittering club career saw him at one point become the world’s most expensive player when Juventus paid Sampdoria 16.5 million euros in 1992 and he ended his career with one final successful spell at Chelsea.

The son of a self-made millionaire, Vialli grew up in a 60-room castle in his native Cremona.

His bustling style of forward play belied his comfortable upbringing and led him to the greatest heights at club level.

During most of the 1980s and early 1990s he was part of a devastating strike partnership at Sampdoria with Roberto Mancini, one of Italy’s most naturally gifted players of the era, which carried the Genoa-based team to unprecedented levels of success and led to them being nicknamed “the goal twins”.

In eight years at Sampdoria, Vialli won the club’s only Serie A title in 1991, the previous year’s Cup Winner’s Cup and three Italian Cups.

They also came to within a hair’s breadth of winning the European Cup in 1992, being narrowly beaten by Johan Cruyff’s Barcelona ‘Dream Team’.

London calling

Vialli was one of the first leading players to leave a club on a free transfer thanks to the Bosman ruling, departing Juventus after he won the Champions League in 1996 to link up with fellow former Serie A star Ruud Gullit at resurgent Chelsea.

By then 31, Vialli was among the first wave of foreign stars who would soon flood the Premier League and alongside compatriots Roberto Di Matteo and Gianfranco Zola turned Chelsea into trophy and title contenders after a long silverware drought.

“It was a club that had exciting plans… even if this was before (Roman) Abramovich. There was already the idea within the club of winning the league,” Vialli said in 2016.

“Gullit was there and I had the chance to live in London. You put that all together and I couldn’t have said no.”

In 1997 he helped Chelsea to the FA Cup, the club’s first major honour in 26 years, and the following year won the League Cup and Cup Winner’s Cup after taking over as player manager from the sacked Gullit.

In his final campaign as a player he led Chelsea on a title challenge that only faded in late April, and in 2000 won a second FA Cup before being replaced by Claudio Ranieri in the following season.

A humbling spell at Watford followed before Vialli decided to leave the game to become a pundit on Italian TV.

“I realised that there were more fun, less stressful things to do than be a coach,” he said.

“Then there was the fact that I’d got married. Before then, I was married to football.”

However he retained a strong affinity to Chelsea and lived in London with his family until his death.

Italy blues

He scored 16 goals in 59 matches for Italy but failed to recreate his often exceptional club form on the international stage.

At the height of his powers he flopped at the 1990 World Cup on home soil, shoved aside early on to make space for Roberto Baggio and Toto Schillaci, and his Italy career never recovered.

At one point he went over two years without scoring for Italy, and his final match for the national team came in 1992 when he was still in his late 20s, surprisingly early in a career that was still to bring another Serie A title and the Champions League with Juve.

However he remained a popular figure and in 2019 became Italy’s delegation chief, providing support to old friend and head coach Mancini.

His tearful embrace with Mancini on the Wembley pitch after Italy beat England on penalties to win European Championship in 2020 became one of the iconic images of an emotional triumph.

Source: AFP

AFOSMA CEO takes good news to DRC

6, January 2023

AFOSMA CEO takes good news to DRC 0

The chief executive officer of AFOSMA, a US-based non-governmental organization, Elvis Mbeng, is currently in the Democratic Republic of Congo where is sharing perspectives with officials of certain non-governmental organizations on future collaboration between his organization and local NGOs with similar missions.

It should be underscored that AFOSMA is a 501 c3 non-profit organization aimed at supporting educational projects in Africa.

Started as SEPFO in 2002 in Mamfe with its most accepted Searchlight School Project, AFOSMA provides quality basic education to Orphans and career training to teenage mothers.

Mbeng in DRC

Mr. Elvis Mbeng is visiting Gemena Congo on invitation by the Vice President of the Senate’s Sanguma Foundation which runs an orphanage, a clinic, a university, income generating activities like maize farms, bakery and transportation to all for sustainable training of orphans and refugees in the Gemena area.

On a collaboration visit, the AFOSMA CEO donated items ranging from computer, dresses, medication, food, toys, shoes, pens, soap worth thousands of dollars to the Sanguma Foundation orphanage.

Reported by Camcordnews Africa Desk

The moment Cristiano Ronaldo met with Vincent Aboubakar

5, January 2023

The moment Cristiano Ronaldo met with Vincent Aboubakar 0

The five times Ballon d’or winner Cristiano Ronaldo departed the shore of Europe and completed a shock move to Saudi Arabia club side Al-Nassr and was officially presented to the excited club supporters in a fully stadium.

After his unveiling, he quickly made his way into the club dressing room and met with his new teammates.

In the dressing room the iconic number seven Cristiano Ronaldo took time to exchange pleasantries with his teammates before he finally began his training session in his new environment.

One of the popular players in the Al-Nassr dressing room is the Cameroon captain Vincent Aboubakar whose fame grew at the just concluded 2022 FIFA world cup tournament in Qatar, the two likewise exchanged pleasantries.

The two will hope to strike up a devastating partnership upfront for Al-Nassr and help them win plenty of trophies both in their league and in the continental competitions.

Source: Opera News

Southern Cameroons Crisis: Irish Intelligence Service says attacks likely to continue through mid-2023

5, January 2023

Southern Cameroons Crisis: Irish Intelligence Service says attacks likely to continue through mid-2023 0

Separatist activism is likely to continue in the Southwest and Northwest regions of Cameroon through at least mid-2023. The threat of violence remains elevated in the English-speaking regions as various armed groups continue to call for secession, highlighting the dangers for those operating or traveling in the impacted areas. The situation has remained tense since October 2017, when secessionists unilaterally proclaimed the independence of the so-called state of Ambazonia, which is unrecognized internationally.

Security-related operations are ongoing. Checkpoints and searches of vehicles and personnel are likely, particularly outside major cities such as Buea (Southwest) and Bamenda (Northwest). Authorities may enact temporary security measures such as curfews and telecommunication restrictions without notice in the event of significant violence or unrest.

Context

Various armed groups operate in the region, such as the Ambazonia Defence Forces (ADF), which is also plagued by banditry and other criminal activities.

Security forces frequently skirmish with Ambazonia secessionist militants (also called “Amba boys”), regularly leading to casualties. Separatists have carried out ambushes targeting security forces and government officials involving improvised explosive devices. There are also reports of militant abuses, including kidnappings and killings, against the local population. Militants often issue stay-at-home orders (also known as “ghost cities”); residents who do not comply with such measures may face intimidation and violence.

While many kidnappings go unreported, it is estimated that dozens to hundreds of people are kidnapped each year in both the Northwest and Southwest regions. Targets notably include prominent members of civil society, politicians, security forces, teachers, and priests, among others. Militants may target foreign nationals due to their perceived worth in the event of a ransom demand. High-profile individuals have been kidnapped in recent months, including a senator and her driver, who were seized by ADF militants in Bamenda April 30. Security forces released several hostages, including the senator, during a military operation in Ashong (Northwest) May 30. The operation killed a dozen kidnappers and detained three others, while weapons and explosive materials were also seized. The Bakassi Peninsula (officially part of Cameroon) also hosts many oil-related operations attracting criminals and militants who seek to kidnap oil workers, aiming for a higher ransom.

Culled from Garda

Harry says in new book William attacked him, branded Meghan ‘difficult’

5, January 2023

Harry says in new book William attacked him, branded Meghan ‘difficult’ 0

Prince Harry recounts in his new book how he was physically attacked by his older brother Prince William during an argument over his wife Meghan, according to an excerpt leaked days before the memoir’s publication.

In the latest salvo in the brothers’ bitter feud, Harry says the alleged incident came after the heir to the British throne called Meghan “difficult”, “rude” and “abrasive”.

Details of the row come as the British royal family braces for the publication on Tuesday of Harry’s book “Spare”.

The undignified spat in 2019 — the year after Harry and Meghan married — allegedly saw William tackle his younger brother to the ground as they continued to argue.

“He grabbed me by the collar, ripping my necklace, and he knocked me to the floor. I landed on the dog’s bowl, which cracked under my back, the pieces cutting into me,” The Guardian newspaper quoted Harry’s book as saying.

Harry then told his older brother to leave. William looked “regretful, and apologised”, Harry recalled, according to the left-leaning daily, which last year questioned the monarchy’s role in modern Britain.

‘Harold’

Quoting from the exchange between the two princes in the book, the report said William turned and called back: “You don’t need to tell Meg about this.”

“You mean that you attacked me?” said Harry.

“I didn’t attack you, Harold,” William responded, seeming to use a nickname for his brother.

The revelation follows a string of other broadsides in the wake of Harry and Meghan’s decision to quit royal duties in Britain in early 2020.

A year after starting their new life in California in 2020, the couple told US chat show host Oprah Winfrey that Buckingham Palace failed to help Meghan when she felt suicidal and accused an unidentified member of the royal family of racism.

And in a Netflix docuseries aired last month they blamed William’s office for negative coverage, claiming it briefed the media against them.

Buckingham Palace has not made any public response to the claims, although Harry’s late grandmother, Queen Elizabeth II, said about the racism allegations that “recollections may vary” and promised an investigation.

William also snapped at a reporter who asked about the claims: “We are very much not a racist family.”

Britain is gearing up for the coronation of Harry’s father, King Charles III, in May following the death of the queen last year.

Harry, 38, was asked in an ITV interview to be aired on Sunday evening if he will attend the event but he dodged the question.

“There’s a lot that can happen between now and then,” he said in a new clip released on Thursday.

“The ball is in their court. There’s a lot to be discussed. And I really hope that they are willing to sit down and talk about it,” he says.

Shared grief

Harry and William previously enjoyed a close relationship, in part forged by their shared grief over the loss of their mother, Princess Diana, who died in a car crash in Paris in 1997.

As young boys, the pair provided the enduring image from the funeral, walking behind Diana’s coffin.

Asked by interviewer Tom Bradby, a friend of both brothers, if “William might say ‘How could you do this to me… after everything we went through?'”, Harry responds tersely that William would “probably say all sorts of different things”.

The former British Army captain adds that he still believes in the monarchy although he does not know if he will play any part in its future.

Responding to a question about invading his own family’s privacy, having railed against the media for doing the same thing, he says: “That would be the accusation from the people who don’t understand or don’t want to believe that my family have been briefing the press.”

In excerpts released earlier, Harry said he wanted “a family, not an institution”.

“I would like to get my father back. I would like to get my brother back,” he said.

Source: AFP

Pope Francis presides over funeral of predecessor Benedict XVI

5, January 2023

Pope Francis presides over funeral of predecessor Benedict XVI 0

Pope Francis led the funeral of his predecessor Benedict XVI on Thursday in front of tens of thousands of mourners in St Peter’s Square, an event unprecedented in modern times.

Red-clad cardinals, dignitaries and thousands of priests and nuns from around the world gathered to say goodbye to the German theologian, who stunned the Catholic Church in 2013 by becoming the first pontiff in six centuries to resign.

For the first time in modern history, the proceedings were led by a sitting pope, Francis, who delivered the homily in Italian as part of a multi-lingual service with a Latin mass.

“Benedict… may your joy be complete as you hear his (God’s) voice, now and forever!” the pontiff said in tribute to his predecessor, who died last Saturday aged 95.

At the end of the service, Francis made the sign of the cross over Benedict’s simple cypress wood coffin and bowed his head, before 12 besuited pallbearers carried it into St Peter’s Basilica.

Benedict will be interred in a tomb in the crypt beneath the basilica, where John Paul II’s body lay in state before it was moved for his beatification in 2011. He was made a saint in 2014.

Born Joseph Ratzinger, the ex-pope had not been a head of state for a decade, but world leaders including German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni were among those in attendance.

An estimated 50,000 people were in the square for the funeral, according to police, many of them having queued up since dawn to bid farewell.

“Benedict is a bit like my father, so I had to pay homage to him,” said Cristina Grisanti, a 59-year-old from Milan, who hailed the former pope’s “purity, his candour, his mildness”.

An estimated 195,000 people had already paid their respects earlier when the body lay in state.

Benedict was the first German pope in 1,000 years and church bells rang out across Germany as the funeral finished on Thursday, while many Germans were also at the Vatican.

“We owe him so much. We want to show that we stand behind him,” said Benedikt Rothweiler, 34, who came from Aachen with his family.

“We actually know too little about Benedict. He always accepted everything the way God wants it. This is a good example for us humans.”

Two popes

Benedict was a brilliant theologian but a divisive figure who alienated many Catholics with his staunch defence of conservative doctrine on issues such as abortion.

His eight years as head of the worldwide Catholic Church was also marked by crises, from in-fighting within the Vatican to the global scandal of clerical sex abuse and its cover-up.

When he quit, Benedict said he no longer had the “strength of mind and body” necessary for the task, retiring to a quiet life in a monastery in the Vatican gardens.

His death brought an end to an unprecedented situation of having two “men in white” — he and Francis — living in the tiny city state.

He and Francis, an Argentine Jesuit, were said to get on well, but Benedict’s later interventions meant he stayed a standard-bearer for conservative Catholics who did not like his successor’s more liberal stance.

The last time a pope presided over the funeral of his predecessor was in 1802, when Pius VII led the ceremony for Pius VI — but the circumstances were very different.

Pius VI died in 1799 in exile, a prisoner of France, and was buried in Valence. His successor had his remains exhumed and brought back to Italy, before he was treated to a papal funeral at St Peter’s.

European royals

Beyond St Peter’s, many of the world’s 1.3 billion Catholics had been expected to follow the funeral proceedings on television and the radio.

In the majority Catholic Philippines, churches held requiem masses for the former pontiff, including at Malolos Cathedral near the capital Manila.

“This is an unexplainable feeling to witness this,” said Cherry Castro, 67, who was among around 500 gathered for the special ceremony.

Portugal declared a national day of mourning on Thursday, while in Italy, flags were flown at half-mast on public buildings.

The only official delegations were from Germany and Italy.

But other dignitaries, including Belgian and Spanish royals, the presidents of Lithuania, Poland, Portugal, Hungary, Slovenia and Togo, and the premiers of the Czech Republic, Gabon and Slovakia among others attended in a personal capacity.

The service followed traditional papal funerals, with a few changes to prayers and readings to reflect Benedict’s status as emeritus pope.

Before being laid in the crypt, his cypress coffin was due to be placed first inside a zinc coffin, then a wooden case.

As is traditional, coins and medals minted during his papacy and a written text describing his pontificate, sealed in a metal cylinder, will be placed alongside his body.

Source: AFP  

Southern Cameroons Crisis:  Concerns about deteriorating security situation in Manyu Division

5, January 2023

Southern Cameroons Crisis:  Concerns about deteriorating security situation in Manyu Division 0

A group of prominent Southern Cameroons traditional rulers say they are extremely concerned about the deteriorating security situation in Manyu Division.

In a letter addressed recently to the Francophone civil administrator in Mamfe, chiefs from Akwaya Sub Division observed that the entire Manyu Division is facing a lot of problems everywhere – in Upper Banyang banditry, in Eyumojock kidnapping; in Mamfe Central terror and in Akwaya killings. The traditional rulers furthered that the secession movement in Manyu is growing at an alarming proportion.

The letter came barely four days after the ailing President Biya claimed during a televised address to the nation that security in Anglophone Cameroon was gradually improving.

Cameroon Concord News gathered that Ambazonia Restoration Forces raided several villages in the Anyang Court Area including Bache where three people were reportedly killed.

Cameroon government sources in Akwaya confirmed the Bache raids and added that Chief Prof. Abangma’s palace was set ablaze. Those killed were identified as Pa Jonas Ekwale Abang aged 79, 58-year-old Ebai Ashu John and Esua Desmond Kajang.

Our correspondent in Mamfe who contributed to this report pointed out that gunmen also attacked Ebinsi and Bakem villages.

Mamfe, the chief town in Manyu Division is currently struggling to cope with the huge influx of displaced persons coming from villages in Akwaya Sub Division.

By Kingsley Betek

Biya family placing slavery yoke on Southern Cameroonians

4, January 2023

Biya family placing slavery yoke on Southern Cameroonians 0

The Vice President of the Ambazonia Interim Government has said that the Biya family and the French Cameroun regime in Yaoundé are shutting the door on reconstruction in Southern Cameroons while trying to enslave the Ambazonian people. 

Speaking exclusively to Cameroon Intelligence Report on Monday, Dabney Yerima stated that the 90-year-old French Cameroun dictator and his family are seeking to place the yoke of slavery on the people of Southern Cameroons.

Yerima pointed out that Biya and his French Cameroun regime is actively involved a Nazi-type policy of directing Southern Cameroonians in Ground Zero to the path of slavery and vassalage.

On Monday the Francophone dominated Cameroon government military announced a massive deployment of scores of troops to three districts in the Northwest region to deal with an increased violence by Ambazonia Restoration Forces amid an escalation of political repression and absence of meaningful reforms in the two Cameroons.

Yaoundé revealed that Southern Cameroons fighters in Oku, Kumbo and Jakiri districts over the weekend sealed markets, chased people and vehicles from the streets and abducted scores of civilians who did not comply with ghost town orders.

Cameroon Intelligence Report understands that battles between the Francophone Cameroon government military and Amba fighters have reportedly intensified after the ailing President Paul Biya’s New Year’s Eve speech that was recorded in the InterContinental Hotel in Geneva.

Vice President Yerima described ghost town operations popularly known as “Kontry Sunday” as an Ambazonian national duty, emphasizing that the ruling CPDM crime syndicate in Yaoundé is seeking to maintain very weak Southern Cameroons political figures at the helm of affairs in the Federal Republic of Ambazonia, whose main task would be to cover up Biya regime’s human rights abuses in Southern Cameroons and continue with the so-called policy of assimilation.

Yerima added that the conflict between the French Cameroun regime and the Ambazonian nation is deepening day by day and that Buea is on sight.

By Chi Prudence Asong

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