Headline News

6, February 2020

Football: Drogba agrees with Infantino’s call for AFCON every four years ⁰

Organsing the Africa Cup of Nations every four years, as FIFA proposed “can be a good thing,” according to former Ivorian international and Chelsea forward Didier Drogba.

The Elephants skipper believes it could increase the flavour and rarity of the trophy. Drogba also thinks that this schedule will protect African footballers who play in Europe.

“I think we’re going to have to get to that point [playing in the CAF Africa Cup of Nations every four years] because the African player is quite disadvantaged in relation to his club, and given that there are a lot of African players now playing in Europe, it complicates things a bit.

Already at the time when we played in the African Cup of Nations, which was in January, (a player) to leave for the national team was to jeopardise his place in the starting line-up.

“It was really complicated, not to mention the weather conditions. So it’s going to be an interesting debate and I hope I can contribute to,” Drogba stressed.

The debate over AFCON regularity is not a new one. The most recent case is when FIFA president Gianni Infantino urged the African football organizing body to consider making the AFCON one that happens over four instead of two-years. He says a four-year sequence will give it more impact.

It is one of few major continental competitions that happens every two years as compared to the European and World Cups.

So far, the Confederation of African Football has explained that by organising the event every two years, it encourages the rapid development of infrastructure in the host countries.

Source: Africa News

6, February 2020

Boko Haram Cameroun: Two killed, 20 homes torched in attack ⁰

Suspected Boko Haram jihadists attacked a village in northern Cameroon early on Tuesday, torching homes and killing two civilians just days before legislative and municipal elections, security sources said.

“Boko Haram made an incursion a little before 02:00 in Mozogo village,” in the Extreme-Nord province “killing two people,” a police officer told AFP.

They torched about 20 homes and two motorbikes and stole another five motorcycles, the officer said.

An army officer confirmed the incident.

Security has been tightened in Cameroon ahead of Sunday’s elections. Anglophone separatists are fighting government troops in western Cameroon while the north of the country has come under attack from Boko Haram.

Based in neighbouring Nigeria, Boko Haram has stepped up attacks from bases hidden in the vast Lake Chad area, where the borders of Cameroon, Chad, Niger and Nigeria converge.

Cameroon says the group has carried out nearly 13 000 attacks on its territory since 2014, with the loss of “several thousand” lives.

The insurgency has forced more than 250 000 people to flee their homes and triggered an influx of 60 000 people from Nigeria.

Boko Haram was formed in Nigeria but attacks have spread to neighbouring countries. The group has also split and a faction affiliated with the Islamic State group, ISWAP, is particularly active around Lake Chad.

Source: AFP

6, February 2020

Biya still uses the machinery of the state to guarantee a single-party type of political domination ⁰

On 9 February over six million Cameroonians will be called to vote in twin legislative and municipal elections. Initially planned for 2018, the polls were postponed twice for organisational and financial reasons. Voting later this week will still take place under tenuous security and political conditions.

Since 2013, Boko Haram has recurrently attacked in the Far North Region of Cameroon bordering Nigeria and Chad (see map). While the country’s defence and security forces have repelled most attacks, Boko Haram maintains sleeper cells in remote enclaves from where it stages deadly sporadic incursions.

Further south-west, armed groups threaten to prevent the vote from taking place. Since 2017 government forces have been fighting a multitude of separatist factions claiming the independence of anglophone regions from a majority francophone Cameroon.

The fighting has forced about 40 000 people to seek refuge in Nigeria and over 450 000 have been internally displaced. This situation accounts for the 2018 presidential election turnout of just 5.36% and 15.94% of voters in the North-West and South-West Regions respectively (see map).

Political tensions added to the security impasse after the 2018 election, which saw President Paul Biya win another seven-year term. Despite losing his appeal at the Constitutional Court, opposition figure Maurice Kamto – the closest contender who officially secured 14% of the vote – claimed he had won.

In January 2019 Kamto was arrested for sedition, insurrection and incitement to violence. This came after a rally organised by his party, the Cameroon Renaissance Movement (MRC), and which had been banned by administrative authorities, ended in violence.

Under pressure internally and externally, Cameroon’s president organised a national dialogue in October 2019 aimed at finding solutions to the anglophone crisis. Among other measures, the dialogue recommended greater autonomy for the anglophone regions.

Two months later a law was passed in Parliament enacting the special status of the North-West and South-West provinces and extending the scope of decentralisation. To further de-escalate political tensions, Kamto was released in October 2019 after eight months of detention. Some have called for the further postponement of the elections until the anglophone crisis is resolved and a more consensual electoral law is passed.

Cameroon’s leading opposition political parties remain ambivalent regarding their participation in the polls. They legitimately criticise the electoral law and the government’s control over the elections’ governing bodies. However, they know that boycotting the polls can affect them negatively.

Biya still uses the machinery of the state to guarantee a single-party type of political domination

In March 1992, at the peak of its popularity, the strongest opposition party at the time – the Social Democratic Front (SDF) – boycotted the legislative elections. It was protesting against the management role in the polls of the Ministry of Territorial Administration. The SDF’s boycott probably prevented the ruling Cameroon People’s Democratic Movement (CPDM) from a humiliating electoral defeat, and enabled the emergence of the National Union for Democracy and Progress as the main opposition bloc in Parliament.

The SDF then performed admirably in the October 1992 presidential election. But the party had a relatively weakened institutional position, as the election management rules hadn’t changed much and it had no representatives in Parliament for political leverage. The SDF never really recovered politically from that legislative boycott, and has since always participated in elections.

This partly explains why other political parties haven’t followed the MRC’s decision to boycott this week’s elections. Currently the MRC has only one representative in Parliament, and so will neither be present in the next legislature nor in any of the city councils. This could be a missed opportunity for a party that – though riding on the popularity of its candidate at the last presidential election – has much to lose if it doesn’t secure representation across the country.

Since the re-introduction of multiparty politics in 1992, only seven opposition parties out of over 253 registered political parties have been represented in the 180-seat National Assembly. Biya’s CPDM has won absolute majority since 1997 (see table below) and continues to use the machinery of the state to guarantee a single-party type of political domination.

Despite the extreme centralisation of Cameroon’s political system in which the president supersedes all other institutions and presidential decrees are law, Parliament still plays a crucial deliberative, if less legislative, role.

This is seen in the way the ruling party guarantees its hold on the low threshold of a one-third majority. It uses this position to block discussion of important issues such as the anglophone problem, or seeing bills pass the lower house unopposed, and through the upper house, where the president appoints three out of every 10 senators per region.

Given the difficulties faced by opposition parties to present candidates in all constituencies, the CPDM’s victory is likely in both elections. In the National Assembly, the main issue will be around the designation of the main opposition party, a role currently played by the SDF with 18 seats.

The biggest challenge for these elections remains the capacity of Elections Cameroon (ELECAM) – the national agency tasked with organising, managing and supervising the elections – to organise free and fair elections. Regularly criticised for its perceived bias towards the ruling party and government, ELECAM officials must demonstrate the body’s neutrality and professionalism.

Above all, the 9 February elections are important to renew the legitimacy of Parliament and municipal councils in the wake of a new decentralisation that is expected by many citizens. Unfortunately, the current political and security climate might make that difficult – leaving a permanent marker on the upcoming elections.

Culled from Reliefweb.int

6, February 2020

Israel looking after President Biya’s security with elite forces ⁰

From communication interception technology to physical security, Cameroon’s state security market is entirely in the hands of Israelis.

It wouldn’t be a stretch to call it “Little Tel Aviv.”

The Israelis practically feel at home in the neighbourhood of Bastos in Yaoundé.

Four-wheel drive SUVs with tinted windows abound and the air is rife with rumours about the presence of advisors and/or spies within Paul Biya’s circle.

Abraham Avi Sivan, the Cameroonian president’s former security advisor who died in 2010, was a regular there.

Eran Moas, Etoudi Palace’s current securocrat, and his wife are also frequently spotted in the neighbourhood. Sivan, Moas and their spouses even founded an ape sanctuary in Cameroon.

Indeed, Biya and Israel have close, long-standing ties. The Cameroonian president has been wary of the French intelligence service ever since the attempted coup d’état that nearly overthrew him in 1984.

He thinks that his predecessor, Ahmadou Ahidjo, was the right-hand man of Jacques Foccart and the External Documentation and Counter-Espionage Service (Service de documentation extérieure et de contre-espionnage – SDECE).

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Israel’s imprint on security in Yaoundé

Determined to side-line the French, Biya turned to Israel on the recommendation of the United States. This is how he met Sami Meyuhas, who had worked in Zaire under Mobutu Sese Seko, alongside Shabtai Shavit, who led the Israeli intelligence agency Mossad from 1989 to 1996.

With Shavit (who currently runs Athena GS3, a subsidiary of Mer Group) in Tel Aviv, Meyuhas in the sub-region, and Sivan and former Israeli general Mayer Heres in Yaoundé, the Israelis gradually transformed Paul Biya’s security apparatus.

Their first order of business was to create the Rapid Intervention Battalion (Battalion d’intervention rapide – BIR), now led by Heres.

Then, in Yaoundé, they installed various antennas and technology enabling the interception of telephone and electronic communications.

Sure enough, several buildings in Bastos are outfitted just like the presidential palace roof.

The French have had to deal with this reality. To this day, Cameroon’s security market is considered “inaccessible.”

Source: The Africa Report

6, February 2020

Southern Cameroon Crisis: Minister Rose Mbah Acha convoy attacked in Momo ⁰

The CPDM convoy of the Minister of Supreme State Control (CONSUPE) was attacked by Ambazonia Restoration Forces as she braved the bad roads from Bamenda to Mbengwi to campaign for the so-called twin poll in the Momo County in Southern Cameroons.

Cameroon Concord News correspondent in Mbengwi reported that despite being accompanied by a heavily armed military escort, Minister Rose Mbah Acha’s convoy came under heavy fire for about an hour leaving 9 top CPDM militants injured.

Speaking at the CPDM meeting venue, the French Cameroun surrogate herself confirmed the incident and observed in a scantily attended meeting that “I would like to tell you people of Momo that all the vehicles in my convoy came under attacked. But there were only five slightly injured.”

Minister Rose Mbah Acha added that “Everyone in Momo must vote for the ruling CPDM, the party that guarantees lasting peace in our crisis-torn region.”

Momo County in the Northern Zone of the Federal Republic of Ambazonia is fully under the control of the Southern Cameroons Self Defense Forces.

By Sama Ernest in Mbengwi

5, February 2020

China: African students stranded in coronavirus heartland plead with embassies ⁰

Thousands of African students in Wuhan, the centre of the coronavirus epidemic, face dwindling food supplies, limited information and lockdowns restricting them to their campuses or hostels.

Two weeks after restrictions on movement were imposed, residents are running short of basic necessities, say students in the central Chinese city.Quick guide

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Several people described profound anxiety, insufficient food and a lack of information. Many complained about the lack of assistance received from their own embassies but refrained from criticising Chinese authorities.

There are more than 80,000 African students in China, often attracted by generous government scholarships. About 5,000 are thought to be in Wuhan, where there are scores of further education establishments offering qualifications that are prized in Africa.

A 21-year-old student from Cameroon living in Jingzhou city was reported on Tuesday to be among new cases. He is thought to have contracted the illness on a trip to Wuhan two weeks ago before the lockdown was imposed on the city but is not in any danger, university officials said.

More than 56 students from Malawi, mostly on scholarships, are among those trapped in Wuhan.

Bright Chipao, the president of the Association of Malawians in the city, said the students were desperate. “There is panic among us as we don’t know how long we are going to survive. We are also increasingly running out of foodstuffs,” he said.

Chipao said the students lacked masks, food and water. Prices had tripled in the city, he said.

The students have asked the Malawian government to airlift them out of the city and return them home, citing the example of other countries in Africa. However Chinese authorities have asked local embassies to tell their citizens not to seek to return home to avoid further spread of the disease.

Many educational establishments have imposed rigorous curbs on students, restricting them to their campuses or hostels. A statement from one colleges read: “Considering your safety, please stay inside your dormitory during this period … Most of the materials are in short supply. Please save resources, cherish your life.”

Kondwani Chembezi, a Malawian student at Wuhan University of Technology, said he and his roommate had only 2 gallons (9 litres) of water and some food.

He said: “Wuhan is becoming a death zone each passing day as the numbers of infected persons, as well as death toll, keep rising. There’s a great atmosphere of panic and despair as others have been repatriated to their nations, yet others remain here trying to survive this unpredictable period.

“Going [to buy things] is a grave personal risk as no one knows who has been exposed to the virus – anyone can be a carrier. Prices of commodities have really gone high – three or more times the usual price. It’s a hustle to actually buy what you need as the demand is also high.”

A Kenyan postgraduate student who has been in Wuhan for five years said the biggest problems were a shortage of reliable information and of food.

He said: “The worst part about it all is not knowing what is going on because all the information we are getting is from online sources or from friends from other universities … We have been forced to have one meal a day.

“Our institute gave us some rice, milk, oil and some vegetables but advises we also use them sparingly because when they are over we might not [be able] to get more.”

Many students contacted by the Guardian were reluctant to talk or be named, as they feared expulsion or other sanctions.

A Ugandan doctor in Shanghai said she and her colleagues felt better on Monday after a “worrying weekend”.

“We’re wearing our masks, washing our hands and avoiding crowded places,” she said. “But most importantly we’re trying to be positive and not live in constant fear and panic.”

Source: The Guardian.com

5, February 2020

Low-energy Prime Minister to visit Littoral and Southern Cameroons? ⁰

According to a release signed by the chief of cabinet at the prime minister’s office, the head of government, Dion Ngute, is scheduled to visit football infrastructure that will host the African football Championship (CHAN) and African Cup of Nations AFCON.

Some analysts hold the low-energy prime minister might be going to the Southwest to campaign for the ruling and ruining party, the CPDM.

Cameroon Concord News Group correspondents in the two regions will bring you full coverage of the visits.

5, February 2020

Tower Resources Begins Cameroon Survey Ahead of Drilling ⁰

London-listed Tower Resources has started the site survey at its Thali license offshore Cameroon, ahead of the planned drilling operation at the NJOM-3 well.

Tower Resources said Tuesday that the Geoquip Marine geotechnical drillship vessel MV Investigator was at the proposed site for the NJOM-3 well, and was conducting the site survey.

The MV Investigator is expected to complete its boreholes in a few days, Tower said, adding that analysis of the data and preparation of final reports “will take a little longer, but should allow the Company to move to more concrete scheduling of the NJOM-3 well on the Thali block later in February.”

Tower was last month given a one-year extension to the initial period of the exploration phase of the Thali PSC.

The company then said that, once the MV Investigator survey is complete, it would discuss the survey results with the drilling company COSL before finalizing arrangements for the well itself.

Tower and COSL in August 2019 signed a letter of intent for the supply of the COSL Seeker rig to drill NJOM-3 instead of the Topaz Driller jack-up previously agreed with Vantage Drilling.

The NJOM3 well is planned to be drilled to a total depth of 1,100 meters intersecting at least three reservoir zones already identified by the NJOM1B and NJOM2 discovery wells drilled on the Njonji structure by the previous operator Total.

The well is designed to confirm the greater reservoir thicknesses observed on the reprocessed 3D seismic in the up-dip area of the structure, and also evaluate additional reservoirs that were not present in the areas where Total’s wells are located.

The NJOM3 well is designed to supplement Total’s well data with a suite of measurement and logging tools and drill stem test (DST) flows to surface. The company’s intention is then to suspend the well with a view to subsequent completion as one of four initial production wells on the structure.

Source: oedigital

5, February 2020

Southern Cameroons Crisis: ‘Only a new president will solve the problem’ ⁰

A senior government official has told the Cameroon Concord News Group Yaounde correspondent that “only a new president will solve the problem that is splitting our country and ruining our economy.”

The senior official, who elected anonymity, said things had deteriorated to a point where regime insiders are scared.

“They themselves are scared that something terribly bad could happen, especially as the economy has been caught in a downward spiral,” he said.

“We have never seen anything like this in our country. The president is totally absent while his aides are taking all the wrong decisions,” he regretted.

“This crisis has highlighted how the country’s leadership is ineffective and inefficient. What is of importance to those at the helm is just the power. They don’t care about the country. It is like their goal is to make money while the rest of the country continues to head to the bottom of the abyss,” he pointed out.

“Look at how our major cities have been transformed into ghettos. Everybody in West Cameroon is now heading to Yaoundé and Douala and the cities are too crowded. It is hard having a nice life in these cities,” he said.

“Everything is expensive. Accommodation is out of reach. Food prices have escalated and the absence of mass transit systems in the major cities has created more life-threatening issues for city dwellers in Yaounde and Douala,” he wept.

“The next president has a lot on his plate. President Biya has shown his limits. He is not up to the task, but he does not want to admit it as that will reflect negatively on him and his entourage. They are doing all they can to keep power, but things are quietly slipping through their fingers,” he stressed.

“Some members of the inner circle are simply tired covering up things. Corruption and nepotism are choking the system. The president’s men are suspicious of everybody and they only bring you closer after dehumanizing you,” he observed.

“They are scared that if disloyal people infiltrate the system, a lot will be leaked. The country is literally being run by the President’s wife through Ferdinand Ngoh Ngoh who also has his own personal and secret agenda,” he added.

“The country is in for rough times. The future is bleak. Until something natural happens, we may not get out of the dark hole in which Biya and his men have put us,” he underscored.

“The military has been bought over. It is full of people from the south. Soldiers from other regions have been reduced to playing secondary roles. Non Betis are monitored very closely and any suspicion could put the suspect in a difficult situation,” he regretted.

“The paranoia is growing by the day. The crisis in the two English-speaking regions of the country has become a money-making business for the military,” he pointed out.

“The top brass of the military and the president’s men give the impression that the only solution they have is the military solution. They are against a negotiated settlement. When things calm down, they will look for a way to fan the embers of war to prove that Amba fighters are still a destructive force that needs to be rooted out through the barrel of the gun,” he said.

“Look at what is happening in Muyuka. They have rounded up all the young men and they are now asking each of them to pay CFAF 50,000 if they must be released. What crime did they commit? Muyuka was quiet. Why did they have to create a new situation? Money is always on their minds and this is unfair,” he regretted.

“Let’s hope God talks to them. The devil seems to be in control of our leaders. They don’t believe in peace. We should pray that our next leaders should be people who are God-fearing,” he concluded.

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai with files from Rita Akana

5, February 2020

Biya among world’s longest ruling leaders? ⁰

Some world leaders serve a set term and others go on to rule for decades.

Here is a list of current world leaders who have held onto power the longest. The list excludes monarchs.

Equatorial Guinea

Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo, 77, has been president of the central African nation for some 40 years after toppling his uncle in a 1979 coup. He tops the list of the world’s current longest-ruling leader.

His government has been besieged by allegations of corruption and mismanagement.

The President of Equatorial Guinea, Teodoro Obiang Nguema meets with Prime Minister of Ethiopia Hailemariam Desalegn (not seen) at Addis Ababa Bole International Airport in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia on February 21, 2018. (Photo by Minasse Wondimu Hailu/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images)

His son, Teodoro Nguema Obiang Mangue, is also the country’s vice president. In 2016, his collection of 25 exotic cars were seized during a corruption investigation and sold at a charity in Switzerland for over $27 million.

Cameroon

Paul Biya, 86, took office in 1982 after a seven-year stint as prime minister. His presidency has faced threats from opposition parties and increased violence in the north and west portions of the country, where separatists have fought for a separate independent state.

President of Cameroon Paul Biya with Chinese President Xi Jinping (not pictured) attend a signing ceremony at The Great Hall Of The People on March 22, 2018 in Beijing, China. (Photo by Lintao Zhang/Getty Images)

Cameroon also faces threats from Boko Haram militants across the border in Nigeria.

Cambodia

Cambodia’s Prime Minister Hun Sen began his fifth term in 2018, cementing his status among the world’s longest rulers. The 67-year-old has been in power for 34 years, strong-arming his way through his country’s political system.

He fled to Vietnam during the regime of Pol Pot, when an estimated two million Cambodians were killed. He returned in 1979, eventually becoming prime minister in 1985 in a Vietnamese-backed single-party communist government and led Cambodia through a civil war against the radical communist Khmer Rouge.

Cambodia’s Prime Minister Hun Sen adjusts his glasses during the 25th International Conference on The Future of Asia on May 30, 2019 in Tokyo, Japan. (Photo by Tomohiro Ohsumi/Getty Images)

He cracked down on critics and opponents after the 2013 general election showed declining support for his ruling party.

Uganda

Longtime President Yoweri Museveni is expected to return as leader for his sixth term after a court endorsed a law removing an age limit for the country’s president.

Prime Minister Theresa May meets President Yoweri Museveni of Uganda during the London Conference on Somalia at Lancaster House on May 11, 2017 in London. (Photo by Hannah McKay – WPA Pool/Getty Images)

Museveni, 75, took power by force in 1986 and declared himself president. He’s been re-elected several times since, though international observers have noted issues with the polling process in several elections.

Iran

Iran’s second Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei wields exceptional power over the country. Before taking the position in 1989, he served as the president, a largely ceremonial role.

In this photo released by an official website of the office of the Iranian supreme leader, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei attends a meeting with Iranian officials, participants of the 31st International Islamic Unity Conference and ambassadors from Islamic countries, in Tehran, Iran, Wednesday, Dec. 6, 2017. Khamenei condemned President Donald Trump’s imminent recognition of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. (Office of the Iranian Supreme Leader via AP)

Khamenei, 80, is considered Iran’s most powerful figure and has control over its branches of government, military and the media. He is the second-longest serving autocrat in the Middle East and the second-longest serving leader in Iran in the last century, after the Shah Mohammed Reza Pahlavi.

Other mentions:

Deceased North Korean founder Kim Il-sung ruled his rouge state for 46 years before dying in 1994 while in office.

Albania’s Enver Hoxha remained in power for four decades before his 1985 death, and Fidel Castro came to power in the 1959 Cuban revolution. The deceased leader handed the presidency to his brother Raul in 2008.

Source: Fox News