Headline News

20, December 2022

Video shows Biden saying Iran nuclear deal is ‘dead’ ⁰

US President Joe Biden said last month that the multi-state deal with Iran to limit its nuclear program was “dead,” but he would not announce that publicly, according to a video that surfaced Tuesday.

The video, which appears genuine and was apparently taken on November 3 during Biden’s visit to California, shows him being asked by a woman to announce that the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) is no longer in effect.

“President Biden, could you please announce that the JCPOA is dead,” the woman, who appears to wear a hair ribbon in Iran’s flag colors, asks as Biden passes by shaking hands.

“No,” Biden replies.

“Why not?” the woman retorts.

“It is dead, but we are not going to announce it,” the US leader said. “Long story,” he adds.

The woman, and others next to her, urge him to not make deals with the Tehran government.

“They don’t represent us,” she said. “They are not our government,” another added.

“I know they don’t represent you. But they will have a nuclear weapon,” Biden says, as the video clip ends.

Biden’s comments, which the White House did not deny, came as Iran has not bowed to months of pressure to accept the final stipulations of an agreement to revive the JCPOA, which was abandoned by his predecessor Donald Trump in 2018.

Talks to revive the deal have been ongoing in Vienna since April 2021, and at one point early this year Iran and Washington appeared extremely close to a deal.

Since then there has not been any progress, and the European Union’s foreign policy chief Josep Borrell warned in September that the parties were actually “diverging.”

Asked about the video, White House national security spokesman John Kirby said nobody was questioning its authenticity.

He said Washington still wants to restore the JCPOA, but that doing so is not priority, given the Ukraine war.

“The president’s comments are very much in line with everything we’ve been saying about the JCPOA, which is just not our focus right now,” Kirby told reporters.

“There is no progress happening with respect to the Iran deal now. We don’t anticipate any progress anytime in the near future,” he said.

“We simply don’t see a deal coming together anytime soon, while Iran continues to kill its own citizens and is selling UAVs to Russia,” he said, making references to Tehran’s campaign to repress months-long demonstrations over its treatment of women, and to Tehran’s supplying attack drones to Russia for use in Ukraine.

Source: AFP

19, December 2022

Why is this evil man still receiving Holy Communion? ⁰

Roman Catholic Bishops in many countries in the world have reportedly barred prominent political figures from receiving Holy Communion and in some cases the Bishops have asked the politicians to confess and receive absolution of their grave sins in the sacrament of Penance. This has never been the case in Cameroon where Roman Catholic clerics are regularly killed and their bodies dumped in waters.

Last year, Cameroon Concord News Group challenged Cameroonian bishops to begin prohibiting corrupt and vicious political figures from receiving Holy Communion, but the Bishops including Archbishop Andrew Nkea and Bishop George Nkuo insisted that it would be inherently political, not pastoral. The Metropolitan Archbishop of the Bamenda Ecclesiastic Province in a conversation with this reporter opined that in as much as the Holy Roman Catholic Church is concerned about public policy, its main focus is on the spiritual care of individual Catholics. Well, that is exactly why the butcher of Yaoundé, 89-year-old President Paul Biya is still receiving Holy Communion.

The Bishops have maintained that conversation with the failed regime in Yaoundé is always better than exclusion and that the church prefers dialogue and persuasion. But regarding Mr. Paul Biya, we of the Concord Group think that for forty years in power, the policies of dialogue and persuasion have clearly been made. It is now time to bar Biya from receiving Holy Communion.

All what Biya has done for forty years as head of state ranges from plain fiction to the most absurd and for more than six years now, Cameroon has been battling an insurgency in the country’s two English-speaking regions which is hard to overcome though the Yaoundé government has thrown everything it has at the insurgents.

More than ten thousand Cameroonians, including four thousand soldiers, have died because of the conflict in the country’s two English-speaking regions and the country’s economy is still reeling from the government generated chaos.

We of the Cameroon Concord News and the Cameroon Intelligence Report are appealing to all Cameroonian Bishops to come to the understanding that there is nothing more that can be done by the Holy Roman Catholic Church at this point to help President Biya and his ruling criminal gangs to understand the seriousness of the evil his forty year old regime is perpetrating on the Cameroonian nation. In barring President Paul Biya from receiving Holy Communion, we of the Concord Group believe that the Cameroonian Bishops will have the complete support of the Cameroonian people and the Holy Father Pope Francis who in a recent revision of the canon law spoke of responding to the demands of justice, moving the offending party to conversion, and repairing the scandal caused. Biya should even be excommunicated from the Holy Roman Catholic Church.

The Bishop of the Kumbo Diocese, His Lordship Bishop George Nkuo acknowledged some years ago in the city of Essen in Germany that he has struggled with what he should do regarding a pastoral situation in Cameroon where so many Roman Catholic political figures were in jail charged with corruption. Bishop Nkuo left the ex-students of Sacred Heart Mankon with the normal Roman Catholic prescriptions: prayer, fasting, and consultation with a broad spectrum of Catholic leaders-nothing have changed ever since the Bishop left the North Rhein Westphalia region of Germany.

Allowing Mr. Biya to continue receiving the Holy Eucharist, the Cameroonian Bishops are apparently saying that Cameroon’s Misruler-In-Chief President Paul Biya is a good Catholic.

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai

18, December 2022

French dreams of winning consecutive World Cup titles dashed ⁰

France are disappointed they could not successfully defend their World Cup crown after losing to Argentina on penalties in Sunday’s final but leave Qatar with heads high having fought until the end, players Raphael Varane and Hugo Lloris said.

France fought back twice through Kylian Mbappe, who erased Argentina’s 2-0 lead in 97 seconds in normal time before scoring a third in extra time to level it at 3-3.

But the South Americans won 4-2 on penalties.

“We are very disappointed of course, we gave everything. We had to face a lot of obstacles during the competition, we gave up nothing,” Varane said.

“For an hour we were not in the game. We could have won too. I’m very proud of this group and of being French. We keep our heads high. We came back in this game when it was complicated.

“We pushed and we believed until the end. We almost turned the game around, which was not going well… There was mental strength in this group, a lot of heart. That allowed us to come back in this game. We’re disappointed but also proud.”

Argentina were the better team in the first half and stormed into a 2-0 halftime lead before Mbappe brought them level with goals in the 80th and 81st minute of the contest which France skipper Lloris described as a “boxing match”.

“The Argentines got off to a great start, being aggressive, using all facets of the game. We were a bit reactionary all night,” the goalkeeper said.

France had also come into the final after several players missed training sessions due to illness over the past week, but Lloris refused to use that as an excuse.

“We’re not going to make excuses, we gave everything,” he added. “You have to congratulate the guys because we didn’t give up until the end.”

Source: Reuters

18, December 2022

Qatar emir says ‘exceptional’ World Cup delivered to fans ⁰

Qatar’s ruler said Sunday that the Gulf state had delivered on a vow to hold an “exceptional” World Cup.

Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani, who gave Argentina captain Lionel Messi a traditional Arab cloak after his side won the trophy, paid tribute to the finalists and fans in a Twitter statement after the match.

“We have fulfilled our promise to organize an exceptional championship by Arab countries, which provided an opportunity for the people of the world to learn about the richness of our culture and the originality of our values,” the emir said.

Qatar spent more than $200 billion on stadiums and new infrastructure ahead of the first World Cup in an Arab nation, which FIFA leader Gianni Infantino has said was the “best ever”.

But the Gulf state has faced relentless criticism over its rights record and the treatment of foreign labourers.

Qatar’s leaders said the attacks were an attempt to cast doubt on the Arab world’s right to hold such big events.

Messi was prominently pictured wearing a ‘bisht’ traditional cloak that the emir presented the Argentina icon before he lifted the World Cup trophy.

Source: AFP

17, December 2022

US-African Leadership Summit: Ambazonia was there ⁰

Though not officially invited to the US-African Leaders Summit, Ambazonians made sure they too were heard during the summit and the message went far and wide.

They came in thousands and their noise was indeed deafening. They made sure the Biya regime was really embarrassed and embarrassed it was as Ambazonian demonstrators came with their public address systems to tell the world that Cameroon’s president, Paul Biya, was a devil with a human face.

For more than six years, Cameroon has been battling an insurgency in the country’s two English-speaking regions which is hard to overcome though the Yaoundé government has thrown everything it has at the insurgents.

While preparing for the Summit in Washington DC, proponents of the anemic government in Yaoundé had spread propaganda that the country’s president was going to bring home some Southern Cameroonians arrested in the US for exporting weapons and death to Cameroon.

But America is not Nigeria. The law works in America and American presidents never interfere in legal matters.

Besides, America is not in the business of shipping its citizens abroad. Most Southern Cameroonians living in the US have American citizenship which makes it impossible for them to be repatriated to Cameroon.

If Mr. Biya achieved anything, it was his usual embarrassment of the country as he demonstrated during the Summit that he had overstayed his welcome at the helm of affairs.

In a video which has gone viral, Mr. Biya who had received a massive dose of steroid in Geneva, did not even know where he was and where he had to deliver his long and rambling speech.

He could be heard arguing in total confusion with the aide who informed him that he had already been introduced, adding that he could deliver his speech sitting but the confused Biya walked like a drunk to the podium where he delivered his long and boring speech.

Mr. Biya and his entourage did not even have the opportunity to talk to American officials about the three Southern Cameroonians arrested in America as they found out that talking about it was like flogging a dead horse.

Mr. Biya and his crowd of kleptocrats are expected to be back in Yaoundé before Monday to continue misleading a country which was once the envy of the continent.

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai

17, December 2022

FIFA announces plans for expanded 32-team Club World Cup from 2025 ⁰

Plans for a new 32-team men’s Club World Cup have been confirmed by FIFA president Gianni Infantino.

The current format of the tournament involves seven teams competing for the title, with Chelsea the current holders after victory over Palmeiras in the United Arab Emirates in the a delayed 2021 edition held in February.

Infantino, speaking at a press conference ahead of the World Cup final between Argentina and France on Sunday, said the 2022 tournament would continue in its current format and be held in Morocco from February 1-11, 2023.

But Infantino announced that a much wider competition would take place from June 2025, saying: “It will go ahead, making it like a World Cup”.

The FIFA boss said it would feature the “best teams in the world” but added that competition details and the location of the first expanded edition were still to be decided.

FIFA had originally planned to introduce a 24-team tournament in 2021, before the COVID-19 pandemic thwarted an anticipated inaugural edition in China, but an even bigger competition has now been scheduled from 2025 and will take place every four years.

The international match calendar will be altered from 2025, with one extended break taking in four matches in late September and early October replacing two separate windows in September and October. The governing body said that the other windows — in November, March and June — would remain unchanged.

FIFA also confirmed plans to launch friendly tournament called FIFA World Series to take place in even years and “increase the possibilities for teams from different confederations to play each other”.

Currently the top teams of every continental competition as well as the hosts’ national champion battle it out for the Club World Cup title.

European champions Real Madrid, South American champions Flamengo and Seattle Sounders, the first CONCACAF Champions League winner from the United States, will compete in Morocco.

Infantino said FIFA’s ruling council had also approved the creation of a new Women’s Club World Cup and a new FIFA Futsal Women’s World Cup, as well as the expansion of the Olympic women’s football tournament from 12 to 16 teams.

Culled from The Athletic

17, December 2022

Biya regime explores new avenues of cooperation with UAE investors ⁰

Investors from the United Arab Emirate and Cameroon gathered on Thursday in Dubai to explore ways of strengthening business relations, investment opportunities and discussing prospects on signing mutually-beneficial partnership agreements.

During the ‘Cameroon Investment Week’ Investment Forum, which took place at Jafza 1 Convention Center, Jebel Ali Free Zone, the two countries delve into viable business and investment opportunities.

To foster discussions, the event assembled major high-profile stakeholders including; Technical Advisor for Economic Affairs at the Presidency of the Republic of Cameroon: Jean Claude AYEM MOGER; Abdulla Al Saleh, Under Secretary of the Foreign Trade and Industry at the UAE Ministry of Economy; Iya Tidjan, Ambassador to the Cameroon Embassy in Kingdom of Saudi Arabia; and the General Manager of the Investment Promotion Agency Cameroon Mrs. Marthe Angéline MINJA.

The event was also be attended by several top CEOs, managers of local governmental and private economic entities as well as representatives of the Cameroonian business community.Abdulla Al Saleh said,” The volume of non-oil trade between the UAE and Cameroon reached $406 million in the first nine month of 2020 with a over 5 per cent increase compared to the same period of 2021.”

He added,” This forum is a perfect platform to explore the new avenues of cooperation between the two countries.”

The Investment Forum featured an interesting panel discussion about Cameroon’s Business environment and investment opportunities in strategic sectors like oil, port, aeronautics, electricity & decentralization.

During the event, institutions from the UAE and Cameroon signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to create an attractive environment for UAE companies willing to invest in Cameroon, encourage the exchange of trade missions, and facilitate information exchange between the parties. The Mou’s were signed between:

Investment Promotion Agency Cameroon & UAE International Investors Council, Investment Promotion Agency Cameroon & UAE Trade Centre, United Councils & Cities Cameroon & UAE Trade Centre, Miller & Associates and UAE Trade Center and Investment Promotion Agency Cameroon & XFusion.

Mrs. Marthe Angeline MINJA, General Manager of Investment Promotion Agency Cameroon, on this occasion said: “Cameroon, Africa in miniature, is not coming empty-handed to this give-and-take forum. Indeed, it has abundant assets, hence its attractiveness”

Walid Hareb AlFalahi, CEO of Dubai Consultancy & UAE Trade Center, expressed: “Cameroon is an emerging and ambitious economy, and it is evident that there is considerable scope to extend bilateral trade between UAE and Cameroon which would enable investment flows into priority sectors such as renewable energy, technology and logistics. UTC has been playing a key role in driving investment into key sectors in Africa and we are looking forward to play a key role in driving investment into Cameroon and further strengthen the relationship between UAE and Cameroon.”

The focus of this gathering was Foreign Direct Investments (FDI) attraction which are generally characterized by huge investment projects, high rate of job creation, a significant contribution to infrastructural development and transfer of technology, as well as their support to adding value to local resources. Thus, this event became a platform to ensure the attraction of sustainable FDIs in a bid to fast-track the achievement of Cameroon’s development goals.

In its 2022 investment report, the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) ranked the UAE as 17th country globally and first Arab country in the world in terms of FDI outflows that totaled $22.5 billion USD in 2021, reflecting a 19% growth compared to their 2020 records which clearly underlines the growing interest among UAE entities in investing in foreign markets and the positive effects that these entities experience from outward FDI. According to a 2021 report and survey commissioned by the Dubai Chamber of Commerce, sectors including fintech, agriculture, health tech and e-commerce display great potential in African markets, provided companies can access the necessary investments to address challenges such as weak digital infrastructure, limited public amenities and unfamiliar regulations. The same survey from Dubai Chamber found that among business leaders in Africa, fintech is expected to see the most growth in 2022 — of up to 89 per cent, followed by agriculture and food processing, by 89 and 87 per cent, respectively. These figures indicate Africa’s position as an attractive investment destination with the potential to generate higher returns on investment in the long term.

The Investment Forum therefore form a part of undertakings to ensure continuity of the UAE-Cameroon business relationship.

Source: Gulf Today

17, December 2022

BEAC puts into circulation new range of banknotes in Central Africa ⁰

In the six countries of the Economic Community of Central Africa (Cameroon, Congo, Gabon, Chad, CAR and Equatorial Guinea), the BEAC (Bank of Central African States) has put into circulation new banknotes from December 15.

On posters and banners announcing these new banknotes, the BEAC emphasizes that these are “more compact, more modern and better secured” banknotes that it has put into circulation.

“For the production of these bills, BEAC has used technology that puts it one step ahead of counterfeiters. These bills have modern security features that are difficult to forge,” Emmanuel Asafor Sho, BEAC’s deputy national director for Cameroon, told the agency on Thursday.

“It is a technology that has significantly improved the quality of cash circulation by gradually replacing the bills of the 2002 range, most often worn, by new bills of the 2020 range,” he added stressing that “to ensure the authenticity of a bill, it is sufficient to apply the method “TRI”, a simple, fast and effective method that combines three gestures: Touch, Look, Tilt.

This new range comes after the 2002 range, 20 years later. According to the Bank of Central African States, these new bills were put into circulation on December 15 in accordance with the decision taken on November 7 in Douala by the Ministerial Committee of the Central African Monetary Union (UMAC).

The BEAC had stressed in a press release last November that despite the introduction of new banknotes of the 2020 range, the 2002 range of banknotes continues to be in force in the Economic Community of Central Africa (Cemac).

Source: Africa News

17, December 2022

Biden jokes about plans to visit Africa, telling Biya and Co. he could eat their food ⁰

U.S. President Joe Biden joked during a meeting with African leaders, saying he plans to visit their continent but may greedily eat their food, NYP reported.

The 80-year-old president said he is a poor relation who abuses his hospitality, but elicited heavy sighs from those in attendance over food insecurity in Africa.

“I’m grateful that all of you have made the journey to Washington for this summit, and I’m eager to visit your continent,” Biden told the representatives of 50 African nations at DC’s convention center after hosting them for a White House dinner Wednesday night.

“As I told some of you — you invited me to your countries. I said, ‘Be careful what you wish for because I may show up.’ The poor relatives always show up. The wealthy ones never show up. The poor come and they eat your food and stay longer than they should.”

Biden added, “Well, I’m looking forward to seeing many of you in your home countries.”

The president, who used to call himself middle-class Joe, often jokes about being a poor relation, despite the fact that he and First Lady Jill Biden earned a surprise $15.6 million in income in 2017 and 2018 after he left the vice presidency.

Biden previously had much more modest net worth, though members of his family earned huge salaries because of their association with him, including his son Hunter, who earned up to $1 million a year serving on the board of directors of the Ukrainian gas company Burisma, while his father headed the Obama administration’s policy on Ukraine.

Hours after his humorous remark, Biden addressed the summit again, this time detailing U.S. efforts to help poor countries in Africa with rising food prices.

“We’re facing a global food crisis, and nowhere is it felt more keenly than on the African continent. Last year, nearly 120 million people in Africa faced acute food insecurity and only halfway through 2022 as drought struck and the food costs soared… the number increased to 140 million people,” Biden said.

Biden added that Africa has “enormous potential” to use its “significant unused arable land” to feed its people and also help feed the world. He said the U.S. Department of Agriculture would assist in this effort.

The U.S. president has summoned African leaders, many of whom are fabulously wealthy thanks to stealing from their own people, as the U.S. government seeks to counter Chinese influence in the region.

Mini-corteges escorted by police cars with flashing sirens escorted African leaders to and from their luxury hotels near the White House this week, causing a traffic jam in D.C.

Only Eritrea and the leaders of the four countries ousted by the African Union for recent coups — Burkina Faso, Guinea, Mali and Sudan — were not represented.

Equatorial Guinea’s President Teodoro Obiang Nguema, who has held office for 43 years, was present even as U.S. authorities work to confiscate $70 million in assets allegedly stolen by his son as two-thirds of his country’s citizens live in poverty.

President Paul Biya of Cameroon, who has been in power for 40 years, also attended the Washington summit, as did President Denis Sassou Nguesso of the Republic of Congo, who has been in power a total of 38 years, and President Ali Bongo Ondimba of Gabon, who is known to have bought a $129 million house in Paris in 2010, a year after he succeeded his father, who ruled for 42 years.

Source: News Armenia

17, December 2022

Geneva: Biya’s security guards fined for manhandling Swiss journalist ⁰

The Geneva Police Court on Friday found six members of Cameroonian President Paul Biya’s security service guilty of manhandling a Swiss journalist of public broadcaster RTS in June 2019.

Ruling on appeal, the police court gave them suspended fines, according to a report in Le Temps newspaper confirmed by the journalist’s lawyer. The Geneva Public Prosecutor’s Office had previously sentenced the bodyguards to suspended prison sentences.

The RTS journalist was covering a demonstration of opponents outside the Intercontinental Hotel, where head of state Biya was staying. He was slightly injured. The bodyguards also stripped him of his professional equipment and personal belongings.

The Cameroonian bodyguards argued that they had immunity and the case went all the way to the Federal Court, which ruled that the agents had not acted that day for the security of Biya.

Quoted by Le Temps, the Geneva public prosecutor Olivier Jornot said in court that a “strong signal is needed to remind those who hide behind a so-called diplomatic status they cannot act as they please”.

Source: Swissinfo