Headline News

8, June 2022

Belgian king Philippe decorates last Congolese WW2 veteran ⁰

Belgium’s King Philippe on Wednesday decorated the last surviving Congolese World War II veteran, an AFP correspondent said, during a historic visit to the Democratic Republic of Congo.

The Belgian sovereign landed in DRC’s capital Kinshasa on Tuesday afternoon for a six-day visit billed as an opportunity for reconciliation between the vast central African country and its former colonial master.

On Wednesday morning, Philippe visited a memorial for combat veterans in Kinshasa and laid a wreath.

He also decorated 100-year-old Corporal Albert Kunyuku, who enlisted in Belgium’s colonial Force Publique in 1940 and saw service in Burma — the former name of Myanmar.

Kunyuku, the last surviving Congolese veteran of World War II, shook hands with the king for a long time.

Belgium’s colonisation of the Congo was one of the harshest imposed by the European powers that ruled most of Africa in the late 19th and 20th centuries.

King Leopold II, the brother of Philippe’s great great grandfather, oversaw the conquest of what is now DRC, governing the territory as his personal property between 1885 and 1908 before it became a Belgian colony.

Historians say that millions of people were killed, mutilated or died of disease as they were forced to collect rubber under his rule. The land was also pillaged for its mineral wealth, timber and ivory.

In 2020, Philippe wrote a letter to Congolese President Felix Tshisekedi to express his “deepest regrets” for the “wounds of the past.”

Near the combat veterans’ memorial on Wednesday, some bystanders suggested that decorating Kunyuku was a cosmetic gesture.

“We should also compensate the families of these veterans who lost their lives in a war that did not concern them,” said Madeleine Yowa, a 43-year-old nurse.

Marie-Therese Bakuku, a street vendor, also urged financial reparations and called the ceremony hypocritical.

“There were thousands of them,” she said, referring to Congolese WWII veterans.

“Now there’s one left and they’re trying to save the day.”

Source: AFP

8, June 2022

Ukraine War: Russian Foreign Minister visits Turkey in bid to unblock Black Sea for grain exports ⁰

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov began a two-day visit to Turkey on Tuesday for talks on unblocking grain exports from Ukraine, which have been stalled by Moscow’s offensive amid a UN warning of worldwide food crisis due to the war. This comes as fighting intensifies in Ukraine’s eastern Donbas region.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has said he hoped issues relating to grain shipments from ports in Ukraine could be resolved, provided Kyiv de-mines the waters around them. Speaking alongside his Turkish counterpart Mevlut Cavusoglu in Ankara, Lavrov said Russia’s “special military operation” in Ukraine was going according to plan and that peace talks would need to resume before there was any chance of presidential talks between President Vladimir Putin and Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky.

Turkey’s foreign minister said a UN plan to open a corridor to restart Ukrainian grain exports was reasonable and requires more talks with all sides to ensure ships would be safe.

Speaking alongside Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, Turkey’s Mevlut Cavusoglu said their meeting in Ankara was fruitful, including a will to return to negotiations between Moscow and Kyiv for a possible ceasefire.

Source: France 24

8, June 2022

Southern Cameroons Crisis: CDC still struggling to recover ⁰

The Cameroon Development Corporation seems to still be struggling to recover from the separatist war in Southern Cameroons. Between January and May 2022, the agribusiness company exported 8,443 tons of bananas, up only 651 tons, compared to 7,792 tons during the same period in 2021.

Although the volume is higher, it hides an almost stagnant production year-on-year, according to statistics published by the Banana Association of Cameroon (Assobacam). CDC was even absent from the export market for 2 years as of September 2018, meaning it did not export any bananas over the period. Before this happened, the company shipped 23,495 tons of bananas between January and May 2018, almost three times the volume exported during the same period in 2022 (8,443 tons).

The picture looks bleak, but the Bank of Cemac States (Beac) has a better outlook. In its latest business survey, the bank revealed that banana production should increase in Q2 2022, as most of the 2021 plantings will now mature, and CDC will resume activities.

Indeed, After almost two years of inactivity due to the Anglophone crisis, CDC initiated the rehabilitation of 520 hectares of banana plantations last year. These are the ones that should mature during the second quarter, according to the central bank. On this basis, the increase in production should lead to higher exports.

Source: Business in Cameroon

8, June 2022

Southern Cameroons Crisis: Francophone army soldiers kill nine civilians in Missong ⁰

Soldiers killed nine civilians including a baby in one of Cameroon’s conflict-scarred anglophone regions last week in a “misunderstanding”, the defence ministry said on Tuesday.

Four troops were searching for a missing colleague on June 1 when they encountered “a group of frenzied villagers”, the ministry said in a statement.

They opened fire, killing four women, four men and an 18-month-old girl and slightly wounding a 12-month-old baby, it said.

The incident took place in Missong in the Northwest Region, it said.

The statement, in an exceptionally swift condemnation, described their action as “inappropriate, ill-suited for the circumstances and manifestly disproportionate” and said the troops had been detained pending the outcome of an investigation.

The Northwest and neighbouring Southwest Region are home to most of the anglophone minority in majority French-speaking Cameroon.

After years of chafing at perceived discrimination, anglophone militants declared an independent state in the two regions in 2017, triggering a crackdown by the authorities.

The spiral of fighting has claimed more than 6,000 lives and prompted more than a million people to flee their homes, according to the International Crisis Group (ICG) think tank.

Separatists have targeted police, soldiers, officials and schools, which they deem to be symbols of the state, often carrying out kidnappings.

The armed forces have also been accused of abuses — charges that the Cameroonian authorities have in the past been quick to dismiss.

In February 2020, at least 23 people were killed in a military raid on the village of Ngarbuh in the Northwest Region, 15 of whom were children, according to UN figures.

The army initially said they had died when a fuel tank exploded during a firefight between troops and separatists.

But as an international outcry developed, the authorities said the civilians had been killed by “uncontrolled” soldiers who were supported by militiamen.

Three soldiers were then prosecuted for murder and pleaded not guilty, but the verdict has still to be announced more than two years later.

In February 2021, Human Rights Watch (HRW) said troops had raped at least 20 women and killed a man in a raid on the village of Ebam in the Southwest Region — an accusation that the defence ministry said was “undocumented”.

In its statement on Tuesday, the defence ministry said it “deeply regrets this grave and unfortunate incident and expresses its deepest condolences to the families of the victims”.

“The inquiry that was immediately opened by the local administrative and judicial authorities… will enable full light to be shed and to discern the outlines and responsibilities for this regrettable misunderstanding.”

Ilaria Allegrozzi, a researcher on central Africa at HRW, said the inquiry had to be “credible and independent”.

Colonial legacy

The presence of the anglophone regions derives from the colonial era.

The former German possession of Cameroon was partitioned after World War I between Britain and France.

In 1961, part of the British territory, the Southern Cameroons, joined Cameroon after it gained independence from France, becoming the Northwest and Southwest regions.

The separatists’ entity, called the Federal Republic of Ambazonia, has no international recognition.

Cameroon’s 89-year-old President Paul Biya, who has ruled the country with an iron fist for four decades, refused demands for a federal structure as anglophone agitation mounted prior to 2017.

After the campaign became violent, Biya organised a national forum in 2019 which led to the state granting more autonomy to the two regions, but not in key areas of governance.

Source: AFP

8, June 2022

Corrupt FIFA: Sepp Blatter and Michel Platini face fraud trial ⁰

Sepp Blatter and Michel Platini, once the chiefs of world and European football, face trial on Wednesday over a suspected fraudulent payment that shook the sport and torpedoed their time at the top.

Former FIFA president Blatter, 86, and Platini, 66, start a two-week trial at Switzerland’s Federal Criminal Court in the southern city of Bellinzona, following a mammoth investigation that began in 2015 and lasted six years. The pair are being tried over a two million Swiss franc ($2.08 million) payment in 2011 to Platini, who was then in charge of European football’s governing body UEFA.

They are accused of having, to the detriment of FIFA, illegally obtained the payment, plus social security contributions of 229,126 francs, in favour of Platini. The former French football great “submitted to FIFA in 2011 an allegedly fictitious invoice for a (alleged) debt still existing for his activity as an adviser for FIFA in the years 1998 to 2002,” according to the court.

The defendants are both accused of fraud and forgery of a document. Blatter is accused of misappropriation and criminal mismanagement, while Platini is accused of participating in those offences. The indictment was filed by the Office of the Attorney General of Switzerland (OAG).

The trial will conclude on June 22, with the three judges delivering their verdict on July 8. The defendants could face up to five years’ imprisonment or a fine. Both FIFA and UEFA are headquartered in Switzerland, in Zurich and Nyon respectively.

‘Oral contract’

Platini and retired Swiss football administrator Blatter were banned from the sport at the very moment when Platini seemed ideally-placed to succeed Blatter at the helm of world football’s governing body. The two allies became rivals as Platini grew impatient to take over, while Blatter’s tenure was brought to a swift end by a separate 2015 FIFA corruption scandal investigated by the US Federal Bureau of Investigation.

In the Bellinzona trial, the defence and the prosecution agree on one point: Platini was employed as an adviser to Blatter between 1998 and 2002. They signed a contract in 1999 for an annual remuneration of 300,000 francs. “The compensation agreed in accordance with this contract was invoiced by Platini on each occasion and paid in full by FIFA,” said the OAG. However, more than eight years after the end of his advisory role, the former France captain “demanded a payment in the amount of two million francs”, the OAG alleged.

“With Blatter’s involvement, FIFA made a payment to Platini in said amount at the beginning of 2011. The evidence gathered by the OAG has corroborated that this payment to Platini was made without a legal basis. This payment damaged FIFA’s assets and unlawfully enriched Platini,” the federal prosecution alleges. The men insist that they had, from the outset, orally agreed to an annual salary of one million francs.

“It is outstanding salary, owed by FIFA, under oral contract and paid under conditions of the most perfect legality. Nothing else! I acted, as in all my life and career, with the utmost honesty,” Platini said in a statement sent to AFP. As a civil party, FIFA wants to be reimbursed the money paid in 2011 so that it is “returned to the one and only purpose for which it was intended: football”, its lawyer Catherine Hohl-Chirazi told AFP.

Ballon d’Or winner

Joseph “Sepp” Blatter joined FIFA in 1975, became its general secretary in 1981 and the president of world football’s governing body in 1998. He was forced to stand down in 2015 and was banned by FIFA for eight years, later reduced to six, over ethics breaches for authorising the payment to Platini, allegedly made in his own interests rather than FIFA’s.

Platini is regarded among world football’s greatest-ever players. He won the Ballon d’Or, considered the most prestigious individual award, three times — in 1983, 1984 and 1985. Only Lionel Messi (seven) and Cristiano Ronaldo (five) have won more Ballons d’Or than Platini. Platini was UEFA’s president from January 2007 to December 2015. Platini appealed against his initial eight-year suspension at the Court of Arbitration for Sport, which reduced it to four years.

Source: AFP

7, June 2022

Southern Cameroons: Nigerian Red Cross appeals for aid to support fleeing Ambazonian refugees ⁰

The Nigerian Red Cross society has appealed to Nigerians and organisations for assistance to cater for the needs of Cameroonian refugees who fled to Bashu community in Boki Local Government Area of Cross River.

It would be recalled that a week ago, over 500 refugees from Southwest Cameroon fled to Bashu, a border community with Cameroon following an alleged crisis that broke out in their communities.

Reacting to the development, Mr Friday Okwo, Head of Red Cross in Cross River, said they lacked the manpower and supplies to cater for the teeming number of refugees that was growing every day.

An official of the society who did not want his name mentioned, said the number of the refugees was increasing daily and needed medical and humanitarian attention.

He said they were trying their best but needed the assistance of other agencies and well-meaning Nigerians before they ran out of supplies.

“Our personnel have been very busy attending to the influx of these refugees many of whom are severely wounded.

“We give the elderly women, children and critically wounded ones immediate medical care but as we speak, space is becoming a challenge,” he said.

Similarly, Mr Augustine Ogar, a Youth Leader in the Bashu Community, said facilities have been overstretched, adding that there was an immediate need for humanitarian supplies.

Source: NNN. Ng

7, June 2022

Two Cameroonians wanted for forgery in Cyprus (photos) ⁰

The Police are requesting information regarding ANTEM COLLIN, 29 and TANGUWA NSHEKOWAH, 38, both from Cameroon, for forgery, obtaining registration under false pretenses, assistance to a third-country national, money laundering, offences carried out in Cyprus between 2021 and June 2022.

Anyone with any information is requested to contact the CID headquarters to with the Citizen Line at 1460, or with the nearest Police Station.

in-cyprus

7, June 2022

Southern Cameroons Crisis: US designates Cameroon for TPS, expands employment options for Anglophone students ⁰

Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro N. Mayorkas has designated Cameroon for Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for 18 months, from June 7, 2022 through December 7, 2023.

The registration period for eligible individuals to submit TPS applications will run for that same period, from June 7, 2022 through December 7, 2023. Eligible individuals will also be able to apply for TPS-related employment authorization documents (EADs) and travel permission during this time.

DHS has also announced that it will suspend certain employment authorization rules for Cameroonian students in F-1 status who are experiencing severe economic hardship as a direct result of the crises in Cameroon.

The issue

Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro N. Mayorkas has designated Cameroon for Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for 18 months, from June 7, 2022 through December 7, 2023. According to a Federal Register notice that will be published tomorrow, the designation will permit eligible Cameroonian nationals and those with no nationality who last habitually resided in Cameroon to file for TPS and for a related employment authorization document (EAD) and travel permission (known as advance parole). DHS and the Department of State have deemed the designation warranted due to the ongoing armed conflict and extraordinary temporary conditions related to security and human rights in Cameroon.

Relatedly, DHS is also suspending certain employment authorization rules for Cameroonians in F-1 status who are experiencing severe economic hardship due to the ongoing crises in the country. An advance copy of the Federal Register notice implementing that change is available.

TPS eligibility and application process for Cameroonian applicants

Relaxed employment authorization rules for certain Cameroonian students in F-1 status

Culled from Fragomen.com

7, June 2022

UK: Boris Johnson is now a weakened leader and with an uncertain future ⁰

The moment of truth for the embattled British Prime Minister, Boris Johnson at the end of a day rife with speculation about his political survival.

It’s a result that means Boris Johnson is now a weakened leader and with an uncertain future, although he himself doesn’t think so. But it’s exactly the stuff that matters to people that forced members of his own conservative party to call for a no-confidence vote: lock-down breaching parties held at government buildings at the height of Coronavirus pandemic when families were banned from visiting even dying relatives.

The sticky Partygate scandal played a major role in conservative MPs challenging Johnson’s position, but it was not the only reason.

Things came to a boiling point over the weekend when the prime minister was booed at an event celebrating the Queens 70-year-rule.

And prior to Monday’s vote, allegations of intimidation and arm-twisting by number 10 trying to get conservative MPs to change their minds, and a last ditch effort by the Boris Johnson himself writing to MPs begging for a second chance.

Boris Johnson has survived the confidence vote. But the considerable number of votes against him can pose a serious challenge to his premiership. That’s why some experts say he won’t be able to hold on to power for much longer.

Sourcies

7, June 2022

MTN Cameroon signs solar deal with power supplier ⁰

There’s been positive news on the sustainability front from operator MTN in Cameroon, which has announced a renewable energy initiative.

The operator has announced the signing, on 2 June in Yaounde, of a collaboration framework agreement with the country’s Rural Electrification Agency (AER) to supply its rural sites with solar energy.

The document was initialled by Moussa Ousmanou, General Manager of AER, and Stephen Blewett, CEO of MTN Cameroon, in the presence of representatives of the Ministry of Water and Energy.

This agreement specifies the terms and conditions under which AER will provide MTN Cameroon with energy produced by its solar power plants. The energy is intended to power MTN Cameroon’s network infrastructure in rural areas, particularly the relay stations.

In fact the agreement is already underway. MYN reports that implementation of this agreement is ongoing at pilot sites in the West and Littoral regions.

This deployment will be extended to all 10 regions of the country in the coming months and will accelerate MTN Cameroon’s environmental, social, and governance (ESG) strategy, of which, it says, reducing carbon footprint is one of the main objectives.

In fact this deal aids the sustainability plans of both government and MTN. Ousmanou of AER pointed out that Cameroon as a whole plans to increase its renewable energy capacity to at least 25% of total production by 2030, while, as Blewett explained, under what it calls Project Zero, MTN seeks to reduce its carbon footprint by 50% by 2030.

Source: Developing Telecoms