Headline News

17, November 2022

Can the Indomitable Lions overcome issues at home to secure World Cup success? ⁰

In November, national legend and Cameroonian Football Federation (FECAFOOT) President Samuel Eto’o heaped pressure on the senior football team by predicting an all-African affair at the World Cup 2022 final.

“Africa has always had the potential to achieve a successful World Cup, but we haven’t always shown our best face up to now,” Eto’o said.

“During the years, African teams have acquired more and more experience, and I think they’re ready not only to participate in a World Cup, but also to win it.

“Cameroon will win the World Cup final against Morocco” – Samuel Eto’o

It’s a tall order for a team which had a rocky route to qualification for what is their eighth World Cup appearance, the most ever by an African team. It took an extra-time goal from winger Karl Toko Ekambi in the second leg of a tie against Algeria to qualify, and only on the away goals rule.

Controversy has also trailed the selection of the World Cup squad after coach Rigobert Song had difficulty reading some names during the announcement, leading to speculation of interference from Eto’o, in the local media.

All of this has made Song’s task of getting out of a group with Switzerland, Serbia and pre-tournament favourites Brazil a Herculean one.

To spearhead what may seem like a “mission impossible” are goalkeeper Andre Onana and star midfielder Andre-Frank Zambo Anguissa who both play in the Italian Serie A, as well as captain and veteran forward Vincent Aboubakar of Saudi Arabia’s Al Nassr FC.

Zambo Anguissa, the team’s defensive linchpin, has the work rate of a stallion and an eye for a goal to match. Should he hit top form and propel the team to effective performances, the team could be poised to make history again.

The Indomitable Lions also made history in 1990 when they qualified for the quarter-finals, the first team from the continent to do so – only Senegal (2002) and Ghana (2010) have done so since. To achieve the milestone, Cameroon beat defending champions Argentina 1-0.

At the next tournament, they also made history again despite finishing bottom of the group. In its 1994 squad was the veteran Roger Milla who, at 42, holds the record for the oldest goalscorer at any World Cup.

And after missing out on Russia four years ago, Song’s wards are keen to show that their status as a nation to reckon with on the global stage remains undiminished. But can they go on against all odds to top their own records and match Eto’o’s words?

SOURCE: AL JAZEERA

17, November 2022

CPDM billionaire tales: New revelations in the “Baba Danpullo affair” ⁰

Baba Ahmadou Danpullo of Cameroon and Aliko Dangote of Nigeria are both wealthy African businessmen. The similarities end there!

In early 2020 financial regulators in South Africa seized and liquidated all of Danpullo’s properties valued at 277 million US dollars.

The chartered member of the ruling CPDM crime syndicate and powerful acolyte of the 89-year-old President Paul Biya has reportedly been operating in South Africa for over 35 years, creating employment from many of his investments and sponsoring the killings of thousands of people in Anglophone Cameroon with the proceeds.

Cameroon Intelligence Report understands Baba Danpullo’s criminal business empire is managed by Bestinver Company South Africa Ltd, Joburg Skyscraper Pty Ltd, and Bestinver Prop 01 Proprietary Ltd, which are all subsidiaries of Bestinver, the group he founded with political support from the regime in Yaoundé.

Things are falling apart for the Francophone Cameroon criminal and like he evicted the Aghem people from their ancestral lands in Menchum Division in the North West region with the support of President Biya in order to settle his cows, so too is he being evicted from the properties that he built in South Africa with fraudulent loans and blood money from Cameroon.

Baba Danpullo says the happenings in the Republic of South Africa is racist and xenophobic and borders on exclusionism aimed at retarding African progress by targeting black African businesspeople. This is simply not true!!

Over the years, Baba Danpullo has represented ill-gotten wealth from senior Cameroon government officials including the Biya family which he used in building a vast property portfolio in Johannesburg, Cape Town and Gqeberha (formerly Port Elizabeth). Franck Biya, President Biya’s eldest son spent years in South Africa monitoring his father’s own share of the Baba Danpullo criminal enterprise.

Danpullo’s lawyers have been telling the courts in South Africa that the so-called Cameroonian business tycoon’s properties generate approximately R20m a month, creating employment across the real estate sector and supporting jobs along the value chain. But coming from a country in Sub Saharan Africa that has nothing to show the world! Danpullo’s crime syndicate has inflicted a lot of pain on Cameroonians and his demise in South Africa is a welcome relief to the Cameroonian people.

Cameroon’s economy remains an equation that might not be solved by the South Africa seizure alone. Cameroon is in the abyss of a financial crisis and corrupt businessmen like Danpullo are helping slowly but surely to make the country spiral into chaos.

Danpullo and the Biya family are investing in far away South Africa while Cameroon’s economy is on life support. Years of mismanagement and incompetence have eroded the country’s financial base.

Not being able to influence the judicial system in South Africa, the conman in early September had the accounts of subsidiaries of South African groups seized in Yaoundé, in order to obtain payment of more than €370m ($371m).

Like what all CPDM criminals do, on September 5 Baba Ahmadou Danpullo obtained from Quentin Djapité Ndoumbe, the president of the Court of First Instance in Bonanjo in Douala an order to seize the accounts of the operator MTN Cameroon and chocolate maker Chococam (a subsidiary of the South African food group Tiger Brands) at local banks. Danpullo is demanding payment of 243bn CFA franc (more than $371m).

By some strange happenstance, the liquidation of Danpullo’s company in South Africa and intervention by President Paul Biya is making matters more intractable.

According to Baba Danpullo’s spokesperson, the Covid-19 crisis and the arrival of a new manager at the First National Bank (FNB) are at the root of his setbacks in South Africa.

However, commenting on the matter, Jeune Afrique observed that a certain vagueness remains as the South African liquidators of Baba Danpullo’s company Bestinver reported difficulties beginning as early as late 2019, a few months before the start of the pandemic. It was indeed exactly when he reportedly made millions of US dollars available to the Cameroonian military to continue the war in Anglophone Cameroon.

Jeune Afrique also noted that the confinements imposed by Pretoria in 2020 did not help. Bestinver’s shopping centres, Princess Crossing in the suburbs of Johannesburg, Moffet on Main and Kings Court in Gqeberha (formerly Port Elizabeth), have seen frequentation plummet.

Cameroon Intelligence Report is keeping a watchful eye on the Danpullo Affair and we will keep our readers posted as we get more details.

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai

17, November 2022

Southern Cameroons Crisis: Yerima stresses need for dialog among Ambazonia groups ⁰

The Vice President of the Ambazonia Interim Government has underlined the need for intensive and productive dialog among all Southern Cameroons restoration groups in order to address ongoing differences in the struggle and respond to the challenges facing Southern Cameroonians.

Dabney Yerima made the comments in a meeting with members of the Ambazonia war cabinet on Tuesday.

The exiled Southern Cameroons leader also hailed all Amba fighters in Ground Zero and Ground One for their continued sacrifices, stating that the history of the Federal Republic of Ambazonia will never forget them.

The Ambazonia war cabinet members also exchanged viewpoints on the latest developments in Ground Zero and the plight of all Southern Cameroons detainees including Ambazonia refugees in neighboring Nigeria.

Dabney Yerima stressed that the Ambazonia Interim Government will continue to play a pivotal role in the struggle and that the Interim Government is keen to continue consultations and close coordination with every Southern Cameroons front line figure.

Vice President Dabney Yerima noted that the Interim Government attaches great significance to the Big Rubbergun Gun Project but donations from the diaspora has been very slow because of the nasty happenings in the USA.

By Chi Prudence Asong

17, November 2022

Congo-Kinshasa: M23 rebels advance in eastern region ⁰

The M23 rebel group in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo has pushed into fresh territory, officials said, after a regional bloc issued a call to lay down arms.

A resurgent group mostly drawn from Congolese Tutsis, the M23 has swept across North Kivu province, triggering a humanitarian crisis and a showdown between the DRC and Rwanda, which Kinshasa accuses of supporting the rebels.

In recent weeks, fighters have been edging closer towards Goma, an important commercial hub of one million people on the border with Rwanda.

But local residents and administrative officials told AFP that the armed group had also begun a push westwards into Masisi territory.

“The rebels are here,” a resident of Tongo, a town in wildlife haven Virunga National Park, which lies on the road leading to Masisi territory, said on Thursday.

An official in the local administration, who requested anonymity, also told AFP late Wednesday that M23 fighters had entered his office.

M23 fighters and Congolese troops were clashing this week in Kibumba, which is just 20 kilometres (12 miles) north of Goma.

A security official, who declined to be named, said Thursday the M23 now controlled the settlement.

The DRC’s army has yet to communicate officially about the rebel advance.

On Wednesday, the head of the newly created East African Community (EAC) military force in eastern DR Congo, Jeff Nyagah, said that rebels that must pursue political negotiations and disarm.

“Those who fail or refuse to voluntarily disarm, then we’ll go for them,” the Kenyan general warned.

Nyagah also vowed that the EAC force would protect Goma.

Despite official denials from Kigali, an unpublished report for the United Nations seen by AFP in August pointed to Rwandan involvement with the M23.

The report also said the M23 plans to capture Goma in order to extract political concessions from the government in Kinshasa.

The M23 first leapt to prominence in 2012 when it captured Goma, before being driven out and going to ground.

But the rebel group re-emerged late last year, claiming that the DRC had failed to honour a pledge to integrate its fighters into the army, among other grievances.

Source: AFP

16, November 2022

Cameroon celebrates the legacy of cotton ⁰

A fashion week has kicked off in Yaoundé with an urban parade dedicated to the celebration of cotton.

Models opened the way to an impressive parade of dancers, performers, clowns and even giant puppets. The show was called “Cotton Pride, from seed to dress” .

“When you see a woman walking by in a beautiful dress or a man in beautiful cotton trousers, you can’t imagine the whole chain of work that goes into it. So in fact Cotton Pride is the pride of cotton work. It means that before you can wear this beautiful dress, there are people who cut, there are people who sew, there are people who spin the fibres, there are people who sow the seed, others who pick the flowers and others who transport these cotton flowers to the spinning mill. So in fact all these pictures show the different stages of cotton processing”, said show director, Nathalie Veuillet.

The show was a prelude to the Fashion and Design Forum.

The urban parade was an initiative of the Centre des Créateurs de Mode du Cameroun (CCMC), which is headed by Yves Eya’a .

“The theme of the designers’ collections is Let fashion express itself. And for us it was important that fashion went to the streets because today when we look at the streets, it’s all that inspires us as designers, as fashion, as fashionistas. And so it was important for us to be able to take to the streets to show the Cameroonian public the fashion that is expressed today in Cameroon”, added the CCMC promoter.

With its carnival atmosphere, Cotton Pride attracted many people.

“This show is really beautiful. It’s beautiful because it’s typically African, it’s beautiful, I love it so much,” said one onlooker.

Africanews reporter, Philippe Anatole Malong , added:

“Yaoundé’s Fashion Week features exhibitions, conferences, debates, fashion shows and other activities aimed at bringing fashion design closer to the Cameroonian public”.

Culled from iol.co.za

16, November 2022

Legendary Italian goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon says he will support Cameroon during world cup ⁰

Italian well-known goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon said on Tuesday that he would back Cameroon during the 2022 World Cup.

The tournament is scheduled to take place in Qatar from 20th November till 18th December.

In statements to “Football Italy,” he said that he will back Cameroon team during the most-anticipated tournament.

“When Italy is out from World Cup, I try to support the team, which include my friends,” he said.

Cameroon have been drawn in Group G alongside Switzerland, Serbia, and Brazil.

Source: See.news

16, November 2022

Italy: Cameroonian medical doctor to quit after patient insults ⁰

A Cameroon-born GP is set to quit his practice in Varese after patients refused to be treated by him telling him to “go home and tend to your goats”, Italian media reported Tuesday.

Enock Rodrigue Emvolo, 48, moved to Italy from Cameroon almost 30 years ago and graduated in medicine from Rome’s Sapienza University.

He told the Italian press that he was fed up with insults from his clients, who call him “the Senegalese man”.

Source: ANSA

16, November 2022

Football: Cristiano Ronaldo enroute to Bayern Munich ⁰

Cristiano Ronaldo is on the way out of Old Trafford following his incendiary interview with Piers Morgan that is due to air on Wednesday.

Segments from the interview have filtered through social media since yesterday in which Ronaldo says he feels “betrayed” by Manchester United and Erik ten Hag.

He also says he feels he is being forced out of Old Trafford by certain powers-that-be at the club.

Now it has emerged that his agent Jorge Mendes and the player himself met with Bayern Munich chiefs last week to discuss a potential move in January.

Chelsea had been in the frame but it’s believed Graham Potter has no interest in bringing the Portugal star to Stamford Bridge despite the overtures of Chelsea owner Todd Boehly.

Other clubs in the frame are Newcastle and Napoli, but Bayern is looking the most likely with CEO Oliver Kahn saying in July that they had considered a move for Ronaldo.

Ronaldo is eager to play in the Champions League and if he made the move to Bayern he could potentially line out against Lionel Messi in February when Bayern face PSG in the CL last-16 round.

Source: MSN

16, November 2022

Third World Politics: Donald Trump announces his run for presidency in 2024 ⁰

Donald Trump, who has mounted relentless attacks on the integrity of US voting since his 2020 election defeat, on Tuesday launched a bid to regain the presidency in 2024, aiming to pre-empt potential Republican rivals.

Seeking a potential rematch with Democratic President Joe Biden, Trump made his announcement at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida a week after midterm elections in which Republicans failed to win as many seats in Congress as they had hoped.

In a speech lasting a little more than an hour and broadcast live on US television, Trump spoke to hundreds of supporters in a ballroom decorated with several chandeliers and lined with dozens of American flags.

“In order to make America great again, I am tonight announcing my candidacy for president of the United States,” Trump said to a cheering, phone-waving crowd, which included family members, donors and former staffers.

Earlier in the day, aides filed paperwork with the US Federal Election Commission setting up a committee called “Donald J. Trump for President 2024.”

Trump steered clear of the name-calling that has marked other public appearances, opting instead for a critique of Biden’s presidency and a review of what Trump said were the policy achievements of his own time in office.

“Two years ago we were a great nation and soon we will be a great nation again,” he said.

Trump laid out familiar dark themes from his playbook, denouncing migrants – “We’re being poisoned” – and portraying American cities as in the grip of a crime wave that has left them “cesspools of blood.”

He said he would push for the death penalty for drug dealers and term limits for lawmakers and rehire members of the military who had been dismissed for refusing to get the COVID-19 vaccine.

Although he assailed the US election process, he did not use his speech to relive his false claims of massive voter fraud in 2020 and did not mention the Jan. 6, 2021 attack by his supporters on the US Capitol.

Trump predicted his campaign will be opposed by left-wing groups, the Washington establishment and the news media. “But we will not be intimidated. We will persevere. We will march forward into the torrent.”

Long road

There is a long road ahead before the Republican nominee is formally selected in the summer of 2024, with the first state-level contests more than a year away.

Trump’s announcement comes earlier than usual even in a country known for protracted presidential campaigns and signals his interest in discouraging other possible contenders such as Florida Governor Ron DeSantis or his own former vice president, Mike Pence, from making a bid for the Republican Party’s 2024 presidential nomination.

DeSantis handily won re-election as governor during the midterms. Pence, while promoting his new book, has sought to distance himself from Trump.

Other potential Republican presidential hopefuls include Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin, Texas Governor Greg Abbott, former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley and former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.

Trump played an active role in the midterms, recruiting and promoting candidates who echoed his false claims that the 2020 election was stolen from him through widespread voting fraud.

But many of his candidates in key battleground states lost, prompting some prominent Republicans to openly blame him for promoting weak candidates who derailed the party’s hopes of taking control of the Senate.

Control of the House of Representatives remains up in the air, but Republicans are on track to win a razor-thin majority.

Trump will seek his party’s nomination even as he faces trouble on several fronts, including a criminal investigation into his possession of government documents taken when he left office as well as a congressional subpoena related to his role in the Jan. 6, 2021, assault.

Trump has called the various investigations he faces politically motivated and has denied wrongdoing.

Trump, 76, is seeking to become only the second US president in history to serve non-consecutive terms, after Grover Cleveland, whose second stint ended in 1897. Biden, 79, said last week he intends to run for re-election and will likely make a final decision by early next year.

In an Edison Research exit poll, seven out of 10 midterm voters expressed the view that Biden, who remains deeply unpopular, should not run again. In the same poll, six of 10 respondents said they had an unfavorable opinion of Trump.

Trump’s presidency

During his turbulent 2017-2021 presidency, Trump defied democratic norms and promoted “America First” nationalism while presenting himself as a right-wing populist. He became the first US president to be impeached twice, though congressional Democrats failed in their attempts to remove him from office.

At a rally that preceded the Capitol attack, Trump urged supporters to “fight like hell” and march on Congress to “stop the steal,” but the mob that subsequently stormed the Capitol failed to prevent Congress from formally certifying Biden’s election victory.

Even though court and state election officials rejected Trump’s false election claims, about two-thirds of Republican voters believe Biden’s victory was illegitimate, according to Reuters/Ipsos polling.

Trump has elicited passionate support from many Americans, especially white men, Christian conservatives, rural residents and people without a college education. Critics accuse Trump of pursuing policies built around “white grievance” in a nation with a growing non-white population.

The political landscape has changed dramatically since he won the presidency in 2016 and some in his party, including major donors, are exhausted by the drama surrounding him.

His single term as president stands as one of the most contentious in US history.

He secured sweeping tax cuts, imposed curbs on immigration and orchestrated a rightward shift of the federal judiciary, including the Supreme Court.

He alienated US allies abroad, abandoned international agreements on trade and climate change, and praised authoritarian leaders abroad, including Putin.

The Democratic-led House impeached him in 2019 on charges of abuse of power and obstruction of Congress after he pressed Ukraine’s leader to investigate Biden and his son on unsubstantiated corruption accusations. The Senate acquitted him, thanks to Republican support.

The House impeached Trump again a week before he left office, this time for incitement of insurrection. He was acquitted by the Senate after he left office, again thanks to Republican senators.

Source: REUTERS

15, November 2022

World Cup 2022: Bryan Mbeumo awaits ‘crazy’ emotions in Qatar ⁰

Brentford forward Bryan Mbeumo says he will go “crazy inside” should he have the honour of starting a game for Cameroon at the World Cup.

The 23-year-old was called up for the finals in Qatar, where the Indomitable Lions face Brazil, Serbia and Switzerland, despite only making his debut in September.

Having called it a dream come true to contest football’s greatest event, Mbeumo would relish lining up for the anthems.

“I’ve always wanted to play a World Cup since I was young,” Mbeumo told BBC Sport Africa.

“Just to walk around the pitch with a big crowd and other stuff would be amazing. It’s going to be crazy inside me.”

Cameroon will play in the 40,000-capacity Al Janoub Stadium, twice, and the 80,000-capacity Lusail Iconic Stadium, which hosts the final itself on 18 December.

Mbeumo only recently chose to represent the central Africans after playing at various youth levels for France, where he was born, with his switch formalised just three months ago.

His father comes from Douala, where Mbeumo still has “a lot of family”, with other relatives in the capital Yaounde.

Douala is also the home city of four-time African Footballer of the Year Samuel Eto’o, who has led the Cameroonian FA since late 2021 and who played a key role in enlisting Mbeumo.

Prior to the Avalon-born Mbeumo committing his future to the five-time African champions, the pair went out for dinner in Brentford’s home city London.

“It was an honour for me just to be face-to-face with him and talk to him because he was one of the best strikers in the world,” he explained.

“He told me about the project, what we can do and I enjoyed this moment. It’s a big thing for someone like him to want you in his team.”

Eto’o amassed four Champions League and two African titles during his distinguished playing career, and Mbeumo says the former Barcelona star is aiming high after Cameroon lost their Africa Cup of Nations semi-final on home soil against Egypt in February.

Family ties

France's forward Bryan Mbeumo controls the ball during the UEFA Under 21 Euro 2021 qualifying football match between Switzerland and France on November 19, 2019 at La Maladiere stadium in Neuchatel. — Mbeumo, who came through Troyes’ youth academy, represented France at U17, U20 and U21 level

Mbeumo describes the decision to discard his mother’s homeland for Cameroon as “hard and long”.

He grew up watching Nations Cup matches and says he knows Cameroon well, unlike some dual nationals who can have scant knowledge of their adopted nations.

“As I played for France in the youth team and grew up in France as well, it was hard but I have travelled to Cameroon many times,” said the softly-spoken Indomitable Lion.

“My dad is very proud, and very happy for me. I’m grateful to be part of this for him, and for my family, and he’s very happy.”

Mbeumo’s Cameroon debut came in a 2-0 defeat by Uzbekistan before a 1-0 loss against South Korea, with both games in Seoul.

“These were my first games in [senior] international football, so I learned a lot. It’s a different type of game.”

It is also a different dressing room for Mbeumo, who was playing second-tier French football as recently as 2019 for Troyes.

Accustomed to a buzzing Bees dressing room, he is enjoying his time with Cameroon’s squad, who often sing and dance en route to matches.

“In our dressing room, we love music as well and like dancing but in there, it’s unbelievable! So fun.”

There is serious music to be faced in Qatar though.

Despite impressing in their first two World Cups – unbeaten in 1982, prior to becoming the first Africans to reach the quarter-finals in 1990 – Cameroon’s recent record is poor.

In 15 matches dating back to the 1994 finals, they have won just once – a tight 1-0 victory over Saudi Arabia (with Eto’o scoring) in 2002 – and lost 10, while conceding over 30 goals.

Fast start

For Mbeumo to boost their hopes, the gliding forward must speed-learn both international football and the playing styles of his new team-mates.

Cameroon have one final warm-up match, against Panama on 18 November in Abu Dhabi, prior to their Group G opener against Switzerland on 24 November, with clashes against Serbia (28 November) and Brazil (2 December) to follow.

The squad announced by former Liverpool defender Rigobert Song saw Nicolas Nkoulou recalled after a five-year absence and Mbeumo among 11 players with five caps or fewer.

“It’s difficult because you are meeting new players, yet you need to create links between each other,” said Mbeumo, who regularly provides chances at club level.

“It takes time and of course it’s going to be hard. I want good relations with my team-mates.”

He has joined Cameroon’s WhatsApp group to know the rest of the squad better, especially since only one other Indomitable Lion – Swansea City’s Olivier Ntcham – is based in the United Kingdom.

Bryan Mbeumo of Brentford celebrates his goal, alongside teammate Ivan Toney, in the 5-2 home win over Leeds United in September 02022. — Mbeumo and Ivan Toney drive Brentford’s attack, with the former laying on several of the latter’s 22 Premier League goals

While expecting tough games from Switzerland – “very good job in the Euros” – and Serbia – “very good, very consistent” – Mbeumo does not believe Cameroon need to have gathered all their points before the final Brazil clash.

“I don’t think that’s the aim. We have to aim big, dream big as we don’t just want to be part of this competition – we want to do something.”

His words amplify the targets of Eto’o, whose striking prowess returned 184 goals from 303 games for Barcelona and Inter Milan.

In contrast, Mbeumo’s finishing can be wayward, as emphasised by his hitting the post eight times last season, and he admits to asking Eto’o for tips.

Both will hope these sink in as Africa’s record eight-time World Cup qualifiers try to reach the knock-out stages for only the second time.

A more realistic chance of silverware comes in 2024 when Ivory Coast hosts the next Nations Cup, a tournament Mbeumo also cannot wait to savour.

“Playing the Nations Cup is something very big in Africa, so it’s going to be very nice – I’m excited.”

With two major finals looming in the next 14 months, it’s quite a start for this latest Indomitable Lion as he roams afresh in the African football savannah.

Culled from the BBC