Headline News

Southern Cameroons Crisis: Doctors Without Borders withdraws from the South West

4, August 2022

Southern Cameroons Crisis: Doctors Without Borders withdraws from the South West 0

Charity group Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) on Monday announced its withdrawal from two towns in Cameroon’s English-speaking South-West region.

It said the decision follows the arrest of four members of its local team and the suspension of its activities by the government.

The charity said a small team and adequate resources will still be maintained in Kumba and Mamfe towns.

MSF said it would also continue to work for the release of its staff and engage with the authorities for a safe and secure environment for its operations.

The demand for medical care is high in the Anglophone regions of Cameroon, which have been plagued by a separatist conflict since 2017.

Several hospitals have been burned there – depriving locals of proper healthcare.

In December 2021, the spokesperson of the defence ministry, Colonel Cyrille Atonfack accused MSF of supporting the separatists after they helped a wounded rebel leader.

MSF denied the accusation, saying it treats people regardless of their ethnic, political or religious background.

Source: BBC

Jailed ex-CAMAIR-CO boss may be released

4, August 2022

Jailed ex-CAMAIR-CO boss may be released 0

Yves Michel Fotso, the son of the late Cameroonian billionaire, Victor Fotso doubly sentenced to life imprisonment for embezzlement of public funds during his time as Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Camair-Co, the national airline may soon be a free man, Cameroon Intelligence Report has learnt from reliable sources in Etoudi.

He was arrested on December 1, 2010 and sentenced to life after it was revealed that a report of the judiciary inquiry, which was ordered by the Mfoundi High Court in Yaoundé, into the racket of acquisition of the ill-fated Presidential plane “Albatross”, had incriminated him.

Fotso was appointed the Administrator-General Manager of CAMAIR in 2000.

By Rita Akana with Intel files

Biya regime launches program to promote positive parenting

4, August 2022

Biya regime launches program to promote positive parenting 0

Cameroon and the United Nations Children’s Fund on Wednesday launched a maiden program to promote positive parenting in the Central African nation.

The “Positive Parenting Program” was imperative after evidence showed that parents are failing in their duty to raise their children responsibly, said Marie-Therese Abena Ondoa, Cameroonian minister of Women’s Empowerment and the Family.

“Parents have lost track of their role and responsibility in bringing up children. Drug consumption, child labor, juvenile delinquency, proliferation of sex tape clearly shows the negligence of parents in guiding children. Instead, they have abandoned the upbringing of their children to housemaids and babysitters,” Ondoa said during the launch of the program in Yaounde, the capital of Cameroon, regretting that social media influencers who preach immorality and obscenity are negatively impacting children.

“There is (a) need for the effective presence of parents in the life of children. We want a Cameroon where children are raised the right way,” Ondoa said.

The program will guide parents on the best methods of raising their children and promote a range of behaviors that can help foster responsive and responsible parenting, officials said.

Source: Xinhuanet

Latvia says Cameroonian visa applicants often submit documents with visible signs of forgery

4, August 2022

Latvia says Cameroonian visa applicants often submit documents with visible signs of forgery 0

Latvia’s Interior Ministry is planning to propose amendments to immigration rules to toughen checks on Cameroonian citizens entering the country.

In recent years, the Latvian Embassy in Cairo, Egypt, has been receiving an increasing number of long-term visa applications from citizens of Cameroon. The number of visa denials to Cameroonian citizens increased especially steeply in 2021 – from the 36 visa requests denied last year 33 requests were denied to citizens of Cameroon. Representatives of the embassy and the Consular Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs also note that the Cameroonian applicants often submit documents with visible signs of forgery.

Considering Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has underscored the necessity to step up checks on Russian citizens arriving in Latvia to assess potential risks to national security and public order.

In 2021, Latvian visas were issued to 11,087 citizens of Russia. Another 1,446 visas were issued to from January 1, 2022 to February 24, 2022, and 910 visas were issued from February 25 to June 17, 2022.

Because of Russia’s aggression in Ukraine, Latvian diplomatic and consular missions in foreign countries have temporarily stopped accepting visa applications from Russian citizens. Latvia issues visas to Russian citizens only in exceptional cases on humanitarian considerations in cases involving threats to life or security. Such exceptions are mainly applied to family members of Latvian and EU citizens, as well as in cases of a grave illness or death of a relative. Estonia, Lithuania, Poland and the Czech Republic have taken a similar approach.

The Interior Ministry indicates that Belarus has been supporting Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, letting Russian armed forces to use Belarusian territory for preparing and launching attacks on Ukraine. Meanwhile, cooperation between Russian and Belarusian intelligence and security services has been close for a long time already as they have been collaborating on joint operations and involving Russian and Belarusian citizens in their espionage activities.

Considering the above, the Interior Ministry has drafted proposals to amend the Regulation Regarding States for the Citizens of which in Issuing a Visa or a Residence Permit an Additional Assessment shall be Performed by adding Belarus and Cameroon to the list of countries whose citizens are subject to additional checks.

The ministry also proposes additional assessment of any Russian citizens (regardless of their place of residence or birth) seeking Latvian visas or residence permits.

The draft amendments have been submitted to the Ministries of Finance, Justice and Foreign Affairs. After they are approved by the ministries, the draft amendments will be put before the government.

Source: The Baltic Times

French Cameroun: Four die in Obala road accident

3, August 2022

French Cameroun: Four die in Obala road accident 0

Four people were killed on Tuesday in a road accident in Cameroon’s Centre region where the capital, Yaoundé is located, according to local police.

Police said in a statement that the tragedy happened along the Obala-Batchenga highway.

The accident occurred after a truck collided head-on with a bus carrying workers of a company, a police officer told Xinhua by phone.

Several others were injured and rushed to the hospital to receive medical treatment, the officer who preferred not to be named said.

According to the police, fatal accidents are common in Cameroon due to reckless driving, dangerous overtaking, drunk driving, and poor state of road.

The Ministry of Transport estimates that 1,500 people die in road accidents each year in the central African nation.

Source: Xinhuanet

Southern Cameroons Crisis: Bodies of troops, Amba fighters and civilians in the streets of Batibo

3, August 2022

Southern Cameroons Crisis: Bodies of troops, Amba fighters and civilians in the streets of Batibo 0

The streets of the Batibo district in Southern Cameroons were deserted Tuesday following three days of clashes between government forces and Amba fighters. Both sides say they inflicted significant losses on the other, while witnesses report seeing the bodies of troops, rebel fighters and civilians.

Civilians said an uneasy calm reigned in the Batibo district, located in the Northwest region.

Primary school teacher Emmanuel Mbah said very few civilians could be seen walking the streets of Batibo on Tuesday morning.

“People cannot go to their farms, shops are sealed, markets are sealed and traders are running away for their safety. Houses are burnt down and the population suffers, so the fighting between the military and the separatists are causing much havoc to the population,” he said.

Speaking by the messaging app WhatsApp, Mbah said several dozen Cameroon government troops have been searching homes in Batibo and arresting people suspected of collaborating with separatist fighters.

The Cameroon military said Tuesday that 17 separatist fighters were killed in three days of fighting in Batibo.

The military said an additional 18 fighters were captured in Bambui, Batibo and Noni, all towns in the Northwest region. The military also said it destroyed or seized weapons, locally made explosive devices and several dozen motorcycles used by the separatists to attack government troops.

Culled from VOA

Biya’s clemency decision on Minister Basile Atangana Kouna: An indication that crime pays

3, August 2022

Biya’s clemency decision on Minister Basile Atangana Kouna: An indication that crime pays 0

It was late on Friday, July 29, 2022 and Biktusi music was pulsating from the residence of a multimillion-FCFA home in Yaoundé owned by a former cabinet minister who orchestrated one of the biggest frauds in Cameroon history.

After four years in the Kondengui Maximum Security Prison in Yaoundé, the former Minister of Water and Energy, Basile Atangana Kouna is now a free man.

Basile Kouna’s clemency decision went very fast. The Special Criminal Court ordered his release late on Friday, July 29, 2022 and before it was 9 pm that same Friday, Basile Atangana Kouna was already enjoying life in the nation’s capital.

Annie Noelle Bahounoui Batende, president of the collegiality of judges and also president of the Special Criminal Court pronounced the decision following the restitution of the corpus delicti to the public treasury, an amount of 1.265 billion FCFA.

Interestingly, there was a correspondence from the Minister-Secretary General at the Presidency of the Republic, Ferdinand Ngoh Ngoh to the Minister of Justice, Keeper of the Seals, Laurent Esso, informing him that President Paul Biya has decided to stop the prosecution of Basile Atangana Kouna.

On the same day after being granted clemency by President Biya and released after serving four years at the Kondengui Prison, Minister Basile Atangana Kouna was under a biktusi ball celebrating with his wife, family and supporters from his Beti Ewondo tribal extraction.

Not far away from Yaoundé precisely in Paris, France, Chief Inoni Ephraim former Prime Minister and Head of Government, who had been convicted in a separate scheme to siphon off millions of dollars in fraudulent Albatross payments, was also at a private Cameroon government holiday home instead of in the Kondengui Maximum Security prison. Thanks to several commutations by President Biya, CPDM criminals are being relieved of any “remaining obligation.”

This is not the outcome that judges at the Special Criminal Court expected when they and other top state prosecutors and police investigators set out to expose what these cabinet ministers have done to the state of Cameroon.

After four years of painstaking work including millions of FCFA spent to arrest Minister Kouna Atangana in Nigeria — participants in a type of fraud that costs the Cameroonian taxpayer several millions of FCFA — had been wiped away by the stroke of a Biya-Ferdinand Ngoh Ngoh pen.

The so-called presidential rationale did not hold much weight with those who had sought to hold Minister Basile Kouna accountable. Correspondingly, no anger has been elicited among those who spent years pursuing the complex prosecution against the Minister.

President Biya’s tribal clemency decision remains an incredible kick in the teeth to the judges and prosecutors at the Special Criminal Court who work every day under very difficult circumstances to achieve justice and some restitution to the Cameroonian taxpayer from the billions that has literally been stolen.

This frustration is shared by many deep inside the regime including some prominent magistrates who spent two years working on the case.  A senior aide to Minister Laurent Esso has been quoted as saying that the Biya clemency decision is disheartening and demoralizing.

In 2013, President Biya commuted a former Minister of Basic Education; Haman Adama after four years of pre-trial detention for misappropriation of public funds. Like Basile Atangana Kouna, Haman Adama we are told also repaid the embezzled funds.  But those who reportedly considered Minister Haman Adama case to be the most important conviction were outraged at what Mr. Biya did.

Basile Kouna’s presidential pardon so to speak is an insult and slap in the face to Cameroonians. Everyone in the political bureau of the ruling CPDM remains baffled at why Mr. Biya acted in this case. The Head of State supports men and women with ill gotten wealth, supports  rich and well-connected people — really bad people by giving them special treatment when decent people are languishing in the jails.

The festivities at Minister Kouna’s home soon after his release surprised everyone in Yaoundé. But a neighbour contacted by this reporter opined that crime pays in Biya’s Cameroon.

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai

Yaoundé: Cabinet minister dies after brief illness

2, August 2022

Yaoundé: Cabinet minister dies after brief illness 0

The Minister Delegate at the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, Ananga Messina née Beyene Clémentine Antoinette is no more.

She died in Yaoundé today after a brief illness.

Cameroon Concord News sources say the cause of death was lung and heart –related.

She is the third member of the Dion Ngute led government in the space of two years to leave the corrupt political arena for the world beyond.

Her demise follows those of Adoum Gargoum and Alim Hayatou.

She was appointed Minister Delegate at the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development in June 2009.

The engineer had worked in the Ministry for 23 years before her appointment. She holds a Diploma in Economic Management.

By Rita Akana

Southern Cameroons Crisis: Two Amba commanders killed in Tubah

2, August 2022

Southern Cameroons Crisis: Two Amba commanders killed in Tubah 0

The Francophone dominated army have killed two Ambazonian commanders and arrested seven other suspected Southern Cameroons fighters in Tubah subdivision, North West.

Cameroon Concord News gathered that “General Rasta” and “Colonel John” were killed when the pro Yaoundé army soldiers launched an offensive in the locality late on Sunday.

“General Rasta” was the leader of a Southern Cameroons Self Defense group in the locality that was responsible for the killing of several Francophone troops deployed to Southern Cameroons.

By Fon Lawrence

Photos of the 3 apartments Chantal Biya bought in France

2, August 2022

Photos of the 3 apartments Chantal Biya bought in France 0

Franck Emmanuel Biya and Chantal Biya respectively the eldest son and wife of the President of the Republic of Cameroon, are among sixty dubious persons who have invested hundreds of millions of Euros in France to buy houses and luxury apartments- a phenomenon on which there are strong suspicion of money laundering.

Chantal Biya spent 2 million Euros to buy three apartments in the 16th district of Paris, Levallois-Perret and in Nice between 1997 and 2009 – two of which were paid in cash and the third financed by a loan from BNP.

The first lady acquired the houses through a Cameroonian Senator, Pierre François-Xavier Menye Ondo, who is also a notary and a business partner, with only 1% share in two of the three purchases.

Here are photos of the apartments

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