Three persons including the CPDM Section President for Meme 1 have died and a dozen injured following a ghastly motor accident which occurred along the Buea-Ekona highway. John Kingue Lysingue, a chartered member of the ruling CPDM party who moonlighted as Section President and Councilor for the Kumba 1 Council perished en route to Buea on Wednesday June 14, 2017.

Cameroon Info.Net reported that a bike rider whose bike went into flames after the incident died on the spot alongside a passenger he was transporting. The accident happened when a 14 seater bus had a head-on-collision with a red colored Carina E belonging to the CPDM Section president of Meme 1, John Kingue.

John Kingue died from the wounds he sustained. The injured victims were rushed to the Buea regional hospital while the deceased were taken to the mortuary. The accident came just 12 days after 5 other persons were killed on the same highway.

By Eyong Johnson

Cameroon Concord News

Cameroon’s episcopal conference calls for full investigation and for justice to prevail after a series of homicides against the country’s clergy and religious which they attribute to “obscure diabolical forces.”

Bishop Jean Marie Benoît Balla of Bafia, was “brutally murdered,” the country’s bishops have confirmed, making him the latest in a number of Cameroonian bishops, clergy and consecrated persons to have been killed over the past 30 years.

In a June 13 statement issued by Cameroon’s episcopal conference and published by the missionary news agency Fides, the bishops called for justice to be done in the face of what they called “obscure diabolical forces.”

They said they were “convinced” that Bishop Balla did not commit suicide as had been initially thought, but that “he was brutally murdered.” Bishop Balla was just 58 years-old and would have celebrated 30 years as a priest next year.

Fisherman discovered the prelate’s body in the River Sanaga, June 2, a few miles away from where his abandoned car was found on a bridge on May 31. Inside the vehicle was a “strange message” together with some personal belongings.

“The body is now at the disposal of the authorities investigating the case to discover the causes and the perpetrators of this hateful, unacceptable crime,” the bishops stated, adding that his tragic death “shocked and upset the People of God, all Cameroonians and international opinion.”

“This is one more murder, and one too many,” the bishops added.  They pointed out “the sad list of bishops, members of the clergy and consecrated persons assassinated in circumstances still not clear today.” In particular, they remembered “Mons. Yves Plumey, archbishop emeritus of Garoua (assassinated in Ngaoundéré – 1991), Fr Joseph Mbassi (Yaoundé – 1988), Fr. Antony Fontegh (Kumbo-1990), Sisters in Djoum (1992), Fr. Engelbert Mveng (Yaoundé – 1995), to mention only a few”.

“We have the impression that the clergy of Cameroon in particular is pursued by obscure diabolical forces,” the Cameroonian bishops declared. They called in their statement for “complete light to be shed on the circumstances and the motivation of the murder of Bishop Balla,” and demanded that “those responsible be identified and handed over to justice to be judged by the law of the land.”

They also urged the government “to assume the noble task of protecting human life,” and asked the media and all who use social media “to renounce defamation, lies, and calumny and to respect the dignity of human persons.”

The bishops appealed to Bishop Balla’s assailants “to strive for urgent and radical conversion,” and encouraged the faithful to “stay courageous” as “Christ has conquered the world.” “Your pastors carry with you the pain of this sad disappearance. Let not your faith fail. Draw the necessary strength from celebration of the Eucharist,” they said, and reminded them that the Blessed Virgin Mary, the Patroness of Cameroon, “accompanies us in this hard trial.”

Source: National Catholic Register

Some 75 applications on child adoption are presently under review at the Ministry of Social Affairs. State radio and television reported that the applications are those deposited in 2016. Officials at the Ministry of Social Affairs say the applicants are expected to abide by the following procedures before their requests are granted:

– Present their marriage certificate

– Certificate of non- conviction

– Being at least 35 years old

– Must have been married for over 10 years with no child with one of the spouses at least 35 years old.

– Maintain a 15 year gap between the adopter and the adopted.

– Show proves of financial eligibility

The list of documents has been published at the Ministry of Social Affairs for interested applicants. Documents that were deposited in 2016 are presently undergoing some scrutiny after which will be studied by the judicial bench before applicants will get a response.

Source: CRTV

The Yaoundé judicial police arrested a Francophone CPDM man for selling the same piece of land to three different people. The police said Ngono Antione, 50, was charged with two counts of felony theft by fraud and one count of a misdemeanor probation violation.

Ngono Antoine of Akak, a town in the district of Soa, Mefou-et-Afamba Division was accused by three persons including his brother-in-law for collecting millions of FCFA via fictitious sale agreements on a plot estimated at about 1,000 square meters.

The first buyer paid for the land in 2012 but decided to start construction some 5 years after purchase only to find a house already built and inhabited by a family, whose members informed him that they had acquired the land from Ngono Antoine. The first purchaser then decided to complain to the traditional ruler. An investigation was conducted and it revealed that there was a third buyer, who lives in France.

The judicial police in Yaoundé detained the seller who was later transferred to Kondengui prison. Police say they want to fight the phenomenon of resale of the same plot of land to several different individuals.

By Rita Akana

Cameroon Concord News

French Cameroon football legend and 2017 UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador, Samuel Eto’o has reportedly angered Southern Cameroonians following comments he made recently on state radio and television. The 36 year football controversial footballer and former captain of the Indomitable Lions of Cameroun visited the top managers of the Cameroon Radio Television at Mballa II on Tuesday the 6th June 2017.

The footballer who failed to raise a finger against the rapes, arrests and extra judicial killings going on in West Cameroon  appreciated the new management at CRTV, describing it as dynamic and professional and echoed President Biya’s provocative message for a one and indivisible Cameroon. Cat calls reportedly greeted Eto’o’s speech and some of the operation managers of the Cameroon Anglophone Civil Society Consortium have cautioned the footballer to stay clear of Southern Cameroon issues.

After helping to oust his fellow French speaking compatriot from the presidency of the African Football Confederation, Eto’o revealed his willingness to work with Issa Hayatou and the other new executives of the Cameroon National Football Academy, ANAFOOT if his services were solicited. He was received by the general manager and his vice, Charles Ndongo and Emanuel Wongibe respectively.

By Chi Prudence Asong

Cameroon Concord News

A Southern Cameroon Roman Catholic priest serving with the Mamfe Diocese at Nguti was found dead today Wednesday in his room. Father Augustine Ndi was onetime Parish priest at the Saint Joseph Parish in Mamfe in the late 80s and early 1990s.  He also had a spell in Akwaya and reportedly fell out of favour with Bishop Emeritus Francis Lysinge. Cameroon Concord News was reliably informed that police were treating his death as suspicious.

We also gathered that the late Augustine Ndi had openly backed the Cameroon Anglophone Civil Society Consortium and in many of his homilies advocated for the restoration of Southern Cameroon independence. Medics say his body showed no sign of fatigue or illness. The cataclysm continues within the Catholic Church.

We still do not know how and who killed Father Abbé DJAMA who was also found dead in his room like Augustine NDI and Bishop Jean Marie BALLA whose body was discovered in the waters of river Sanaga. The Holy Roman Catholic Church including CPDM government officials are maintaining a kind of deliberate silence. According to leaks of the results of the autopsy, the genital organs of Bishop BALLA were mutilated. His left arm was broken. No drop of water was found in his lungs. Signs of torture were visible on his body. His sandals were worn upside down leading to the conclusion that it was not a natural death, nor was it a suicide by drowning.

At the height of ambivalent skepticism, a Rear Admiral of the Cameroonian Navy said that his team had recovered the body of the Bishop, while a Malian fisherman announced that it was he who discovered the body floating above the water and tied it to the foot of a tree before alerting the rescue teams. The Vatican has removed hits ambassador Monsignor Pioro PIOPPO from Yaoundé to a new post in Indonesia.

By Rita Akana

Cameroon Concord News

A hotel in Bamenda, North West region has been ravaged by fire.  There was consternation and panic at the Top Star hotel premises as workers ran from one end to another struggling to put off the fire. Police preliminary findings say the incident occurred as a result of a gas leakage from the bakery department.

Chunks of smoke accompanied by wild fire were seen all over the building. The forces of law and order who arrived the scene managed to prevent the local population from looting.

Some reports have suggested that the incident was the handiwork of the Southern Cameroons Defense Force. The hotel management reportedly subbed the ghost town operations going on in Southern Cameroon.

Source: Cameroon Info.Net

Cameroon has arrested nearly 30 soldiers fighting the Nigerian terror group Boko Haram in the wake of their protest against their conditions that also demanded the payment of bonuses. The soldiers on Sunday “set about stopping traffic with barricades on national route number one,” the Defense Ministry said in a statement broadcast on state radio on Monday.

The men were demanding that they be immediately relieved from duty, as well as “the payment of bonuses for ‘international soldiers’ in line with those granted to their comrades from UN peace keeping missions,” the statement said. The soldiers were transferred from the Zigue area in the far north to capital Yaounde where they were placed under arrest and a judicial investigation was opened, the ministry said.

Traffic along the northern route was restored. Cameroonian soldiers engaged in the fight against Boko Haram often complain about their conditions, but this is the first time a group have demonstrated for leave or greater pay.

Though Boko Haram was born in Nigeria, the Daesh-affiliated group has carried out frequent attacks in Cameroon, Chad and Niger, prompting the formation of a 10,000-strong regional force to fight back. Some 200,000 Cameroonians from the far north region near Nigeria have left their villages in fear of the violence.

(Source: AFP)

The members of the fishing community who were called to help in the search for the remains of the late Bishop of Bafia, His Lordship Jean Marie Beniot Balla say they have been forgotten by the CPDM regime. To be sure, the body of the late prelate was found dead on May the 2^nd, an autopsy conducted and the corps handed over to the Roman Catholic Church and family.

To find the missing prelate on May 31, 2017, fourteen local divers were recruited by the CPDM leadership in Ebebda. Once the body was discovered, the divers in a typical CPDM pattern were abandoned by the administrative authorities, who had promised them some form of compensation.

For three days, the divers left their families to try to find the bishop and today no one is looking at them. The so-called Anglophone governor of the Central region and the political elites of Bafia have all left and the divers do not know who to confront.

For 72 hours, these men actively participated in the search for the late Man of God but promises made to them have not been kept. The mayor of Ebebda,  Syrinus Awono, had assured the divers  from the beginning of this story that President Biya had put everything at his disposal so that the search operation was well conducted. Unfortunately, at the end of the operation, the mayor only gave the divers a fufu and eru meal worth 500 FCFA and a bottle of beer.

By Rita Akana

Cameroon Concord News