Cameroon

25, July 2025

7,000 Cameroonians face deportation as U.S. court backs Trump’s action ⁰

On Monday, a U.S. district judge lifted an earlier injunction that had blocked the administration from ending TPS protections for nationals of Cameroon and Afghanistan, effectively clearing the path for the implementation of Trump’s April directive to revoke their protected status.

According to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, about 7,900 Cameroonians currently benefit from TPS. The court’s decision could compel them to return to a country still plagued by political unrest and violence, especially in the conflict-ridden Anglophone regions.

The ruling also affects approximately 14,600 Afghans, many of whom face similar risks amid ongoing insecurity in their home country.

In April, the Trump administration announced plans to terminate Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for thousands of Afghans and Cameroonians living in the United States, intensifying its sweeping immigration crackdown.

The Trump administration maintains that conditions in both Cameroon and Afghanistan have improved enough to justify ending the protections

A spokesperson for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security confirmed the decision, which marks a significant shift in America’s humanitarian immigration policy.

TPS offers temporary legal status and protection from deportation to nationals of countries facing armed conflict or natural disasters. Cameroonians were granted this protection due to ongoing violence and a deepening humanitarian crisis in their country.

Following the announcement, more than 100 Democratic lawmakers urged top U.S. administration officials to reconsider, warning that ending TPS would force vulnerable immigrants back to “devastating humanitarian and economic conditions.”

Despite widespread opposition, the Trump administration maintains that conditions in both Cameroon and Afghanistan have improved enough to justify ending the protections, an assessment strongly contested by human rights groups and immigration advocates.

Critics argue the move not only endangers thousands of lives but also reflects a broader, hardline approach to immigration under President Trump’s renewed tenure.

Multiple advocacy groups have vowed to challenge the decision in court, raising concerns about safety, due process, and the erosion of the United States’ longstanding humanitarian commitments.

Source: Business Insider Africa

25, July 2025

CPDM Crime Syndicate: Martinez Zogo Murder trial postponed again ⁰

An administrative delay on July 21 postponed a military court hearing in Yaoundé for the murder case of journalist Martinez Zogo, adjourning it without debate. The Court of Appeal’s rulings from July 17 had not yet reached the Military Tribunal, effectively halting further proceedings. For nearly six months, hearings before the military jurisdiction have been on hold pending these decisions, which lawyers had requested while challenging various aspects of the case. The Court of Appeal ultimately rejected these challenges.

“At this point, we are simply waiting for the case to be referred back to the military tribunal so that the prosecution can present the facts as outlined in the indictment, the witnesses can be heard, and the process can move forward,” explained lawyer Mbuny, counsel for Lieutenant Colonel Justin Danwe, one of the defendants. The military tribunal set the next hearing for August 11.

This marks another adjournment without debate on the merits, one and a half years after the trial began. Discussions continue to focus primarily on procedural compliance and objections regarding how the preliminary investigation and judicial inquiry were conducted.

These two phases revealed that three commandos from the General Directorate for External Research (DGRE), the state counterintelligence service, tailed, abducted, tortured, and murdered Martinez Zogo, head of radio station Amplitude FM, in January 2023. Lieutenant Colonel Justin Danwe, DGRE head of operations, led the unit.

An investigative commission, composed of gendarmes and police officers and established by the President, implicated DGRE chief Divisional Commissioner Maxime Léopold Eko Eko in addition to Danwe and his arrested men. In total, 12 DGRE agents were arrested.

Civilians, including businessman Jean-Pierre Amougou Belinga, Bibey Mayor Martin Savom, and a notorious fake DGRE agent, were also taken into custody.

Source: Sbbc

22, July 2025

Ekema Patrick: Dead but the family’s agony lingers! ⁰

The once notorious mayor of Buea in Cameroon’s Southwest region, Patrick Ekema, might have died some six years ago, but his name is still on the lips of many residents of Buea for various reasons.

For the settlers who came from other regions of Cameroon and who could not adapt to the rules of the council, Patrick Ekema who died on October 27, 2019, seemingly of a heart attack, was a vilain who did not deserve to live.

In their view, Ekema was just against them because they held a different political point of view which did not tie in well with Ekema’s political perspective.

But for most natives of Buea, Ekema who belonged to the ruling Cameroon Peoples’ Democratic Movement (CPDM) was simply working according to the dictates of his political party.

The locals who have been gradually reduced to a minority in their own land hold that the Buea Council needed a leader like Ekema Patrick to ensure that there are no land grabs and chaos on the city’s streets.

Over five years after his death, the Cameroon Concord News sent its correspondent, Rita Akana, to Buea to find out what the people of the city of Buea still think of Patrick Ekema of blessed memory.

“I am a small business owner. I deal in construction materials. During Ekema’s time he wanted us to open our shops on Mondays even when the separatist fighters threatened to burn our businesses if we disobeyed them. If we did not open our businesses on Monday, the mayor would seal our shops for a long period of time and this was a challenging period for us. We were caught between the government which wanted us to disrespect the separatist fighters and the separatists who were permanently threatening to burn down our shops,” a business owner in Molyko, Buea, who elected anonymity, said.

“Ekema was a millstone around our necks and many people really wanted him dead, especially the separatist fighters who saw him as someone who was hurting their cause. Many people who were affected by his policies and knew they could not hurt him thought he could be indirectly hurt. I heard that separatist fighters were even targeting his family but it seemed the family was well protected by the military,” he added.

Also speaking to our correspondent was a former separatist fighter, known by his nickname of ‘Dangerboy’ who was based in Fako Division. The fighter, who now keeps a low profile and operates a small business in Buea town said Patrick Ekema was a source of frustration to the separatists.

“Patrick Ekema made sure ghost town operations did not have the desired impact. We were frustrated. We wanted to demonstrate to the Yaounde government that we were in total control of our land and that the population was complying with our instructions,” he said.

“We had on many occasions plotted to take Ekema down but he had very good security around him and his family. We knew that if we hurt either his child or wife, he would have a change of mind. But we never succeeded. When he died, we thought we could take our revenge on his family, but we were told he had moved his family to another country. We were helpless as we could not do anything. I hear the family is either in America or the Canada. It is a good thing that they are out of the country because Ekema had stepped on many toes,” he stressed.

Our correspondent, Rita Akana, also went to the Great Soppo market which was adversely impacted by the separatists’ ghost town operations and a local vegetable saleswoman said she remembered that period which was very stressful.

“The battle between Ekema and the separatists was a very bad moment for us the small traders. Ekema, who was with the government, wanted us to come to the market on Mondays, but the separatists had warned that mondays were days where ‘ghost towns’ had been decreed throughout the two English-speaking regions of the country. We were scared of the separatists but we were also scared of Mayor Ekema Patrick who had the police and military behind him. It was stressful,” she said.

“The separatists wanted to kill Ekema if they had their way but state security was giving him the protection he needed. Many of us were scared for his innocent children and wife. If the separatists could lay their hands on his family, they would not hesitate to take their revenge. I don’t know if Ekema’s family is in Buea or Cameroon, but I pray that they should continue being safe wherever they are. Though things are getting better, it must be pointed out that there are still many bitter separatists who could hurt Ekema’s family if they had that opportunity. It is in the interest of the family to continue hiding wherever it is. The rebellion could be winding down but it is not over. I even hear that there are huge fights within Ekema’s family. I hear the huge house he built for his children has been taken over by his own family. There is a lot happening within the Ekema family too,” she pointed out.

Cameroon Concord News has plans to produce special papers on Ekema on the 6th anniversary of his death. He may be gone, but his family’s agony still lingers. Violence is on the rise in Cameroon and the government’s grip on the country is weakening. The two English-speaking regions of Cameroon may not be in the news as they used to be but security for families considered to be frontline workers of the abhorred government is almost non-existent.

The killings and abductions by separatists and government soldiers are slowly declining but life in the two English-speaking regions of Cameroon is very uncertain.

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai

Editor in Chief

22, July 2025

Southern Cameroons: North West seeks XAF47 Bln to upgrade infrastructure ⁰

The Northwest Regional Assembly unveiled a 47 billion CFA francs development plan during the Northwest Economic Forum, held in Bamenda from July 13 to 14, 2025. The plan primarily focuses on infrastructure development across five strategic areas.

Specifically, the region aims to raise 12 billion CFA francs to boost electricity access by 30% over five years in Bamenda, Fundong, Ndop, and Kumbo, the region’s main towns.

Over 15 billion CFA francs are needed for road rehabilitation. Regional officials expect this to improve connectivity and cut travel times by 40% between Bamenda, Mbengwi, Wum, and Nkambé.

The regional executive is also working on an 8 billion CFA francs project to modernize the Bamenda airport. The goal is to reopen it and boost air traffic, tourism, and regional trade.

Alongside the urban electrification project, the Northwest region plans to develop a network of mini solar power stations. This project, valued at 5 billion CFA francs, will supply 20,000 households in rural villages such as Njinkom, Belo, and Bali.

Finally, the Northwest region plans to secure 7 billion CFA francs for its digital connectivity project. This initiative is expected to expand broadband access by 50% within three years in Bamenda, Ndop, Fundong, and surrounding rural communities.

Addressing investors at the forum, Fru Angwafo III, President of the Regional Assembly, stated, “We are not here to ask for permission, we are here to make deals.”

Source: Business in Cameroon

14, July 2025

The Moudiki empire: A dynasty drunk on Cameroon oil ⁰

In a republic long desecrated by dynastic ambitions and geriatric despotism, Cameroon now bears witness to a scandal so brazen, so unrepentantly venal, that even the ghosts of accountability must surely weep. The Société Nationale des Hydrocarbures (SNH), the state oil and gas company meant to steward the nation’s most valuable resource, has degenerated into a private fiefdom of the Moudiki family, operating with all the arrogance of a medieval court and none of the shame.What masquerades as national development at Kribi Deep Seaport is in truth a festering symbol of oligarchic capture, disguised under bulldozers, steel, and state silence. The so-called Cstar Tank Farm Project – a shady petro-venture being shoved down the throat of public interest – is not merely a corporate overreach. It is a state-sanctioned incest of power, privilege, and plunder.

A family affair, draped in the national flag

At the rotting center of this farce is Adolphe Moudiki, the 86-year-old director-general of SNH – senile in sight, but still omnipotent in reach. Too frail to stand, yet firm enough to rule by proxy, he has now crowned his wife, Nathalie Moudiki, queen-regent of SNH’s new era of nepotism. As legal director and now inspector general – a newly invented post tailor-made for dynastic expansion – she commands the institution like a duchess inheriting ancestral land.

Nathalie Moudiki, who now presides over Cstar, SNH’s shady new subsidiary, is pushing forward a multi-billion-dollar petroleum project without board approval, as if the nation’s hydrocarbons were the inheritance of a noble house, not the patrimony of a people. The project lubricated by dubious Dubai meetings, offshore shell structures, and suspicious partnerships, bears all the fingerprints of a classic kleptocratic heist. The involvement of Franck Hertz Biya, the First Lady, Chantal Biya’s son, only sharpens the stench. That the President’s inner court is now dabbling in opaque oil ventures, playing puppeteer over contracts and concessions, makes mockery of even the pretense of governance.

Kribi: Where dreams go to be laundered

Franck Hertz-Biya is playing an active role in the current negotiations for the attribution to SNH of a 250-hectare site in Kirbi port. A memorandum of understanding between the Port Autonome de Kribi (PAK) and SNH is expected to be signed soon. The project is driven by the special-purpose vehicle (SPV) Cstar Tank Farm Project Management, which groups SNH, its distribution subsidiary Tradex, and Ariana-RCG consortium, owned by the secretive Lebanese businessman Azzam Makhlouf, who is Vanuatu’s honorary consul and special envoy to the Middle East. Cstar is planning to build a refinery, a petroleum product storage terminal, and a gas pipeline in Kribi.

Although SNH’s Board of Directors have yet to approve Cstar as a strategic partner, Nathalie Moudiki, legal director and now inspector general of SNH; who doubles as CEO of Cstar, is already acting as if Cstar is an integral part of SNH; and she is pushing the project forward. On June 19, Cstar’s managing directors met in Dubai to approve the company’s development plan and the creation of its local subsidiary, the Joint Operating Co (JOC). According to a confidential communiqué reviewed by Cameroon Intelligence Report, the JOC will be in charge of “operating and maintaining the terminal for the storage of strategic reserves of petroleum products in Kribi.”

Among the figures present at the Dubai meeting were Franck Hertz-Biya, Emmanuel Patrick Mvondo, Tradex CEO and Mougnal Sidi, Director of Legal Affairs at the Ministry of External Relations. Sidi, has been tipped to officially replace Nathalie Moudiki as head of SNH’s legal department, is the mastermind behind Cstar’s sprawling legal structure.

The Kribi storage terminal, on paper, is a symbol of industrial growth. In practice, it is an altar to corruption, constructed with no transparency, no parliamentary scrutiny, and no credible oversight. The Dubai-based legal structure, orchestrated by Mougnal Sidi, another foot soldier in this grotesque theatre, is designed not for efficiency, but for obfuscation. It is a legal maze meant to hide profits, evade scrutiny, and funnel public wealth into private vaults. This isn’t development. It is plunder at the speed of progress. It is the reanimation of feudal Africa by way of petroleum pipelines.

The Deafening Silence of Power

The scandal has drawn public outrage from public figures like Akere Muna, whose called for an independent audit of Cstar have so far met a brick wall of bureaucratic cowardice. Where is Ferdinand Ngoh Ngoh, the powerful secretary general to the presidency that publicly spars with the Moudikis, yet does nothing to sever the rot? Where is Energy Minister Gaston Eloundou Essomba, whose portfolio has been hijacked by this royal family and its foreign co-conspirators? Where is the Cameroonian state, when its wealth is being handed to Lebanese middlemen, Vanuatu consuls, and princeling operatives? Cameroon is governed not by law, but by clan, by a coven of career courtiers who sip champagne while villages burn kerosene to light their homes. The SNH has ceased to be a state enterprise. It is a cathedral of corruption, and the oil it controls is not black gold; it is black betrayal.

From Republic to Petrocracy

The Biya regime, now entering its fifth decade of zombified rule, presides over a country where oil flows upward, not outward, and where institutions serve only to formalize theft. SNH, instead of funding roads, schools, or hospitals, has become the treasury of a twilight monarchy. The Moudikis, Hertz, Makhlouf, and their ilk are pimps of the public purse, trafficking national assets in luxury boardrooms while millions live and die in darkness. The Kribi refinery and storage terminal will not store hope. It will store fuel — for yachts, not ambulances; for Range Rovers, not rescue boats .And while Adolphe Moudiki clutches power from his hospital bed, and Nathalie sharpens her knives at SNH headquarters, the very concept of republicanism drowns in an oil slick of cynicism.

Let this be a warning

To the Moudiki clan: your names will not be remembered as builders, but as plunderers wrapped in tricolor. You will not be praised as visionaries, but cursed as vandals of the nation’s soul. To the silent enablers in government: your complicity will not be forgotten. History does not absolve cowards who looked away while the nation was auctioned at Kribi’s gates. To the Cameroonian people: this is not governance. It is organized theft, polished with protocol and perfumed with PR. Do not be deceived.

And to the next generation: remember that your inheritance is being siphoned by a few, in Dubai boardrooms, under fake titles, behind closed doors. But oil is not eternal. And neither is tyranny.

Cameroon deserves a future unshackled from dynastic parasites. The SNH must be returned to the people — or it will become a monument to everything that ever went wrong in post-colonial Africa.

Let the Moudikis build their empire elsewhere. The nation is not their plantation.

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai with intel files

14, July 2025

Global shame as Cameroon ordered to repay €1.3 million of Looted Covid-19 Funds ⁰

In a searing indictment of embezzlement and misappropriation and reckless corruption, Cameroon has been thrust into the eye of an international storm; its name dragged through the mud by the very scandal that ought never to have happened: the mismanagement of precious funds meant to save lives. The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, the world’s leading financier of health programs in low-income countries, has delivered a damning ultimatum: repay €1.3 million, (FCFA 852,744,282) or face severe consequences. This comes after an April 2025 delegation to Yaoundé unearthed a tragic litany of fiscal chaos, ineligible expenditures, and grotesque misuse of Covid-19 relief funds. What was meant to preserve life has now become a theater of disgrace.

In what reads like a tragic poem of state dysfunction, auditors and investigators scoured ledgers and warehouses, only to find a tale of 238 second-hand freezers, alleged medicine thefts, and vanishing equipment – all under the shadow of a health system gasping for breath. At the heart of the storm is Cameroon’s own Ministry of Public Health, led by Minister Malachie Manaouda, whose name is now etched into the global ledger of embarrassment. Even more damning: the delegation met with the Secretary General of the Presidency, Ferdinand Ngoh Ngoh, and the Minister of Finance, Louis-Paul Motaze; clear evidence that this scandal has touched the upper echelons of Cameroonian power. Despite promises and posturing, the rot ran deep.

The Global Fund’s Head of Grant Management, Mark Edington, delivered a stinging rebuke during a high-level meeting at the 78th World Health Assembly in Geneva. He did not mince words. Cameroon must comply with its co-financing commitments or face a brutal 20% slash in future grants. A blow that could leave millions without medicine, testing kits, or hope. Is this another shameful legacy of Paul Biya? That funds meant to shield our people from death are turned into a feast for the corrupt?

This is not the first time Cameroon has danced dangerously close to international condemnation. A 2022 report placed the nation among a quartet—alongside Mali, Mauritania, and Zambia—that had allegedly misappropriated a staggering US$25 million in grants. That revelation triggered Sweden to withhold its Global Fund contribution. Even earlier, in 2021, the Global Fund’s Inspector General had warned of weaknesses in Cameroon’s financial governance. And now, the chickens have come home to roost.

Where is the outrage? Where is the accountability?

In an era where every franc counts and every vial of medicine could mean the difference between life and death, the Cameroonian government has, in spectacular fashion, fumbled the moral imperative of stewardship. This is more than a bureaucratic blunder; it is a betrayal of the sick, the poor, and the vulnerable. It is a moral crime.

The silence from Etoudi is deafening. President Paul Biya’s administration, already marred by decades of opacity, now finds itself facing international censure and domestic indignation. With public health on the line and national honor under siege, the government must act swiftly.

RECOMMENDATIONS:

• Launch an independent, international audit with full transparency.

• Prosecute those responsible for embezzlement, no matter how high their rank.

• Publicly commit to a reform of all Global Fund grant management processes.

• Restore public trust through regular and transparent communication with Cameroonians.

• Establish an oversight task force comprising civil society, international observers, and anti-corruption experts.

Cameroon stands at a moral crossroads. It can either cleanse its institutions and restore dignity, or wallow in the mire of disgrace while the world watches in horror. The time for spin is over. The era of silence must end. History is watching; and it will not be kind.

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai

12, July 2025

Celebrating a Manyu icon Pa Atem Akoh-Arrey in the UK ⁰

The Cameroon community in the United Kingdom is celebrating the great life of Pa Sampson Atem Akoh-Arrey today Saturday, 12th of July 2025 at The Crowne Plaza Hotel, Langley Drive, Crawley, RH11 7SX, United Kingdom. Among the groups attending the occasion are the Sasse Old Boys Association (SOBA) UK, Ossing Development and Cultural Association (ODCA-UK) and Mamfe Government Grammar School Old Students Association (MAGGSOSA).

The event is twofold: a Presbyterian Church in Cameroon-focused service, followed by cultural festivities until midnight. ODCA UK and the Manyu community in the UK are leading the cultural celebrations of this devoted son of Manyu.

Pa Sampson Atem Akoh-Arrey passed away peacefully on May 22, 2025, at the Buea General Hospital, at the age of 90. Throughout his remarkable life, the renowned educationist was a true trailblazer. He was among the first batch of students at CCAST Bambili, became the founding Principal of Grammar School Mamfe, and served as the first Inspector of Education for Schools in SW Province, and later as the first Provincial Sub-Delegate for Education in Manyu Division until his retirement in 1993.

On the 29th of December 2024, his children put on a remarkable celebration at the Mountain Hotel in Buea to mark his 90th birthday and 62 years in marriage to his lovely wife, Mama Sophine Akoh-Arrey.

The legendary Anglophone Cameroon citizen was a man of silent strength, faith and unlimited kindness who served as the President of ODCA in Buea for more than 30 years. He stretched a helping hand to many, and the Manyu community in Buea is stronger as a testament to his kind-heartedness. His two sons in the UK, Ayuk and Atem, have followed in his footsteps as community coordinators in England.

AA as his generation often referred to him leaves an unforgettable family and community memory and is survived by his dear wife Mami Sophine Ebanga Akoh-Arrey, nine children, twenty grandchildren, five great-grandchildren, a brother and sister and a wider community who mourn his loss. The funeral rites have been arranged for July 23rd and 24th in Buea.

By Sessekou Isong Asu, ODCA-UK

10, July 2025

Cameroon, Nigeria and Ethiopia hit by US cut to visa duration ⁰

The United States has announced sweeping changes to its non-immigrant visa policy for Cameroon, Ethiopia and Nigeria, cutting the duration and conditions under which most travellers from those countries can enter.

The US Department of State says nearly all non-immigrant and non-diplomatic visas issued to citizens of the three countries will now be single-entry and valid for only three months.

It says this is part of a “global reciprocity realignment”, a sharp shift from previous visa terms, which often allowed for multiple entries over two years or more.

Nigeria has denied reports that it only offers single-entry e-visas for three months to US citizens.

Presidential spokesman Bayo Onanuga said on Thursday that Nigeria continues to offer five-year multiple-entry visas to American nationals.

“We want to reiterate that the US government’s claim of reciprocity as the reason for its current visa policy towards Nigeria does not accurately reflect the actual situation,” he said.

Likewise, US citizens can get visas of up to a year in Cameroon and 90 days in Ethiopia.

The authorities in those two countries have not yet commented.

The Nigerian government has expressed its concern, describing the move as disproportionate and calling for reconsideration.

It added that the restriction could hamper cultural and educational exchanges that have long been a foundation of US-Nigeria relations.

The State Department says visa policies remain “subject to ongoing review” and may change depending on evolving diplomatic, security, and immigration benchmarks.

In a statement, the US government said it was working closely with authorities in the three countries to ensure they meet key international standards.

These include:

issuing secure travel documents

managing visa overstays

sharing security or criminal data for public safety purposes.

Last month, even stricter measures were imposed on Eritrea, Somalia, and Sudan -with the United States suspending all immigrant and non-immigrant visas to citizens of those countries.

The US has already ordered that the social media accounts of all foreigners applying for visas would be vetted for “any indications of hostility toward the citizens, culture, government, institutions, or founding principles of the United States”.

Nigeria was the seventh largest source of international students to the US, and the highest in Africa, according to the 2024 Open Doors report on international education exchanges.

The report published by the US department of state, bureau of educational and cultural affairs showed a 13.5% increase from 2023.

An aide to former Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari said he believed the US was not reciprocating but showing its displeasure with Nigeria.

Bashir Ahmad posted on X that President Bola Tinubu‘s recent visit to Brazil for the Brics gathering was behind the move.

“This is not solely about reciprocity. Rather, it appears to reflect growing US discomfort with Nigeria’s increasing global realignment, particularly the warm reception we are receiving from the Brics,” he wrote.

Immigration lawyer Godwin Oke thinks differently and told the BBC: “This is a classic case of visa reciprocity under international diplomatic practice. Countries often align their visa terms to reflect mutual treatment.

“The US had been issuing Nigerians five-year multiple-entry visas, while Nigeria only offered Americans short-term, single-entry visas. From a policy standpoint, it was only a matter of time before the imbalance was addressed.”

In March this year, the US mission in Nigeria issued a stern warning, saying overstaying a visa could lead to a permanent travel ban and potential criminal prosecution.

There is no official data showing the number of Nigerian travellers to the US who overstay their visas.

But Nigerians are worried that the number who get visas will fall under President Donald Trump’s tough immigration policies.

Many young Nigerians would like to leave the country in what is called Japa (Japa means escape in the Yoruba language) and the US remains one of the most desirable destinations.

Source: BBC

10, July 2025

Southern Cameroons Crisis: Over 150,000 children missing ⁰

More than 150,000 children have gone missing in Cameroon’s Anglophone regions amid the ongoing armed conflict, now in its eighth year. The figures were revealed during the 7th session of the Presidential Plan for the Reconstruction and Development (PPRD) of the North-West and South-West regions, held on July 4 in Bamenda, under the chairmanship of Prime Minister Joseph Dion Ngute.

According to Paul Tassong, president of the PPRD steering committee, NGO reports indicate that separatist groups abducted many of these children without issuing any ransom or public demands.

This worsening security crisis has also driven over 200,000 children out of classrooms across the two regions.

In its June 2025 report on the Situation of Children in Cameroon, the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) confirms that school enrollment in these areas remains alarmingly low, with some children having missed school for more than five years.

The report also states that, in 2024, 334,000 people were displaced from the North-West and South-West, including 174,000 who crossed into Nigeria. The conflict has crippled the education system: 41% of schools are closed, leaving 223,749 children out of school and increasing their vulnerability to recruitment by non-state armed groups.

To address this humanitarian crisis, the government launched the PPRD, aimed at rebuilding and stabilizing the affected areas. Over the first five years, the state and partners mobilized over CFA600 billion—a dramatic rise from the plan’s initial budget of 89 billion, later reassessed to CFA2,500 billion due to escalating needs.

With this funding, the government has rebuilt nearly 120 schools—71 in the North-West and 49 in the South-West—as part of broader efforts to restore basic services and community infrastructure.

Since late 2016, the two Anglophone regions have faced a violent separatist insurgency, initially triggered by grievances over perceived marginalization. Armed groups have enforced school boycotts, and attacks on students, teachers, and school buildings have become widespread.

Source: Business in Cameroon

9, July 2025

Moscow: Cameroonian admits guilt in court over rubles-to-dollars scam ⁰

Water into wine? How about turning rubles into dollars.

A Moscow court heard that Hans Tabi Takang, a Cameroonian conjurer who has lived in Russia for 12 years, swindled his victims of around two million rubles (around €20,000), the state-owned Kommersant outlet reported.

In one case, the self-proclaimed magician deceived a woman whom he had convinced he could turn paper or rubles into U.S. dollars via a “special ritual.”

“To turn paper into money, you take a 5,000-ruble note, wash it with a special powder mixed with water, then use that liquid to spray the cash inside a suitcase, wrap the money in foil for some time, and after these steps, the bills are supposed to turn into $100 notes,” the woman said Tabi Takang told her.

After the woman handed over 500,000 rubles to Tabi Takang, the mendacious magic man took off with the money.

According to Kommersant, Tabi Takang said he understood the charges and admitted his guilt.

In a second case, Tabi Takang claimed he would collect special pieces of paper sent by his mother from Cameroon, which he would transform into dollars after a “witchcraft ritual.”

The Russian ruble has been on a rollercoaster ride following sweeping economic sanctions enacted by the West after Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

However, the ruble has recently become the world’s top-performing currency, according to Bank of America, owing to U.S. President Donald Trump’s trade war and its impact on the dollar, along with the Russian central bank’s high interest rates and strict capital controls.

Source: Politico.EU