In Cameroon, heavy rains in July and August cause devastating floods. The consequences are becoming more serious over the years, even leading to loss of life. This situation worries many observers who are calling for an effective climate-related natural disaster management plan.

On the night of Saturday August 21st, 2021, heavy rain fell on the town of Ngaoundéré in northern Cameroon, causing flooding and resulting in several material damages. The Far North region has not been left out, since the beginning of August 2021; floods have destroyed houses, farms and plantations in several departments of the region. The case of the city of Douala in the south of the country is quite symptomatic of the situation. With an estimated population of more than 3 million and a demographic growth rate of about 3.5% per year, the economic capital of Cameroon lies on the Wouri delta in an area of former swamps and mangroves that is extremely flat.  Floods can be very devastating, even causing loss of life.

These floods, which are one of the strongest signs of climate change, are a cause for concern in Cameroon, because of their increase. In 2020 alone, nearly 160,000 people were affected by floods in the Far North of Cameroon, a region already heavily affected by the exactions of the Boko Haram sect and which, like the rest of the world, had to face the Covid 19 pandemic.

An effective climate disaster management plan

It is indeed during each rainy season that Cameroon is plunged under water. But the government’s actions so far do not seem to be bearing fruit. Greenpeace Africa calls on the government of Cameroon to take its responsibilities and reconsider its international commitments in terms of risk management and natural disasters, protection of people and the fight against climate change. “We note that, for cities like Douala and Yaoundé, the outflow of rivers is partly linked to the clogging of drains by plastic bottles. Where are we with the ban on the use of non-biodegradable plastic packaging decided in 2014?  It is clear that its implementation was limited to the first few weeks of the signing of the decree,” notes Ranèce Jovial Ndjeudja, Forest Campaigner at Greenpeace Africa.

Source: Afrik21

A French Cameroun Consultant Lazare Atou has reportedly been caught up in war between Biya’s barons, Africa Intelligence reports.

The consultant was told to stop managing the assets of three former state-owned companies just after he testified in an investigation into the conduct of the general manager of the Port of Douala at the Special Criminal Court in Yaoundé.

Cyrus Ngo’o, the general manager of the Autonomous Port of Douala (PAD) seen here on photo attached to this report was auditioned last Wednesday at the Special Criminal Court.

Ngo.o is a suspect of embezzlement of public funds, as part of an investigation opened at the Special Criminal Court.

More concretely, Cyrus Ngo’o is accused by a bailiff of fraudulent outflow of funds from the coffers of the Douala port following a contract awarded by mutual agreement and endorsed by Ferdinand Ngoh Ngoh, Secretary General of the Presidency of the Republic.

According to some opinions, underneath the affair which now involves many financial experts is a war between two camps of powerful members of the Biya regime.

One, embodied by Ferdinand Ngoh Ngoh, Secretary General of the Presidency of the Republic and the other by the powerful Minister of State in charge of Justice Laurent Esso.

On August 5, Cyrus Ngo’o was sentenced to six months in prison, suspended for five years. He was prosecuted by a private company for “abuse of office” and “misappropriation of funds”.

At the end of the hearing, the general manager of the PAD was also ordered to pay FCFA 1.7 million in fines and FCFA 162 million in legal costs.

By Rita Akana

At least 15 fishermen were kidnapped by terror group Boko Haram late Monday in Cameroon’s Far North region, local authorities said on Tuesday.

Several witnesses who fled after Monday’s raid on Blaram, a sandy fishing village of the region near the shores of Lake Chad, said militants rounded up the fishermen who were fishing and drove them to an unknown destination.

The military did not respond to a request for comment. A security source said they were aware of the incident but were still investigating the details.

In the past month, the terror group has intensified attacks and abductions on civilians in the region, according to security reports.

Source: Xinhuanet

The carnage is continuing unabated as Ambazonian fighters keep on reducing the country’s military into a group of scouts who have lost their way in a massive wilderness. The country’s army soldiers are completely at the wit’s end.

Southern Cameroonian fighters have simply overwhelmed the country’s military as they gain more experience and acquire more sophisticated weapons in a war that is very likely to run for decades, especially as the government is reluctant to head to the negotiating table.

Some of the weapons are acquired when the brave Southern Cameroonian fighters attack and kill highly demoralized army soldiers who now understand that they are not a match for the Amba Boys who are hell-bent on liberating their fatherland.

The ragtag military group that started with machetes and hunting rifles has morphed into a sophisticated group of experienced and dedicated fighters and these boys are not shy to demonstrate their power by attacking the military and its equipment on a terrain the military knows nothing about.

Ambazonia Restoration Forces ambushed a Cameroon government military convoy, providing security at an ENEO facility in Mundemba killing 2 soldiers security sources said today August 30, 2021.

The convoy came under heavy attack from the Amba fighters as it headed towards the electricity company’s post in Mundemba, the chief town in Ndian division on Monday, the sources hinted.

The attack was the latest in a Southern Cameroons conflict which has killed thousands of people and displaced hundreds since it began four years ago.

“We lost 2 soldiers in the terrorists’ ambush in Mundemba” a military officer, who asked not to be identified, told Cameroon Intelligence Report.

He said 4 government army soldiers, including two ENEO staffs, were wounded in the ambush.

The Cameroon government military convoy was on its way to supply troops protecting ENEO technicians when it came under fire, said another military source, who gave the same toll.

By Rita Akana

Douala was plunged into darkness, but cries pierced the silent night: the water was rising. Alerted by the neighbors, Hummel put some of his belongings to safety and hurriedly sent the children away. A few minutes later, the blackish liquid invaded the house.

In mid-August, like every year during the rainy season, the informal neighborhood of Makèpè-Missoké was invaded by water in the heart of Cameroon’s economic capital. Under the effect of global warming, floods are becoming more and more frequent in this port city of more than three million inhabitants, which is constantly expanding.

“Burned out TV, burned-out refrigerator… Everything is wasted,” sighs Hummel Tsafack, 35.

“As soon as the thunder rumbles, we raise the beds. We are always afraid here. The water comes so quickly,” agrees his neighbor François, in his fifties. He still has a bitter memory of the flood of the summer of 2020 that paralyzed the city and devastated the neighborhood.

In his small house soaked with humidity, all the household appliances are out of order. On the floor, the concrete is dotted with a few holes. “This place, we’ve already cemented it seven times. Every time it floods, it breaks and we have to start over.”

Population growth

“We moved here because it was cheaper. We’re not going to move,” he warns. This precarious neighborhood is in a flood zone that cannot be built on. But residents continue to pile in, driven by the lack of space in a city with a population growth rate of over 5.5% per year.

Each year, nearly 110,000 new city dwellers move into the megalopolis and the gap between supply and demand for available land is growing.

Douala is prone to flooding with nearly 250 km of rivers and heavy rainfall averaging 4,000 mm per year. It is located at the mouth of the Wouri River, on a low coastal plateau, bordering the Atlantic Ocean and is influenced by the tides.

Meteorological data for the last 20 years indicate a decrease in rainfall, which masks an increase in extreme events, and very violent rain episodes, causing flooding.

The temperature of the metropolis is increasing, as it is at the global level. According to the latest report of the UN climate experts (IPCC), coastal cities are in the front line of the climate crisis and risk being “wiped out by long-term flooding” and rising sea levels.

According to the IPCC, floods will displace an average of 2.7 million people in Africa and flood-related costs could increase tenfold by 2050, to $60 billion a year, in the 136 largest coastal cities.

Plastic waste

In Makèpè-Missoké, plastic waste litters the river. “Look at all the garbage thrown away by the residents. In addition to this, the soil is silting up and invasive plants are colonizing the riverbed. In case of heavy rains, the water overflows,” explains environmental specialist Didier Yimkwa.

To address the problem, the city has built about 40 kilometers of drains since 2012. Some at-risk, unsanitary and precarious neighborhoods have also been upgraded to allow access to city services, especially those for waste collection.

But garbage and garbage are everywhere in Douala’s poor neighborhoods, and the drains are often covered with plastic, preventing water from draining away.

“It is estimated that 30% of waste is lost in nature,” said Dr. Joseph Magloire Olinga, Deputy Director of Studies and Environmental Protection in Douala.

At the same time, another program has developed a hydro meteorological observatory to collect reliable local data on rainfall and prevent the risk of flooding. The participation of the French Development Agency and the World Bank is essential, says Olinga, who is in charge of monitoring the “Douala, sustainable city” project.

“The response is not enough,” he admits, however. “We need a serious alternative in terms of land to accommodate the population. This involves the densification of the city center, and the construction of high-rise buildings, but some sectors are blocked by real estate developers who have bought the land and no longer want to sell it,” he explains.

Some flood-prone areas also continue to be allocated to real estate projects, which is the responsibility of the state.

In neighborhoods like Makèpè-Missoké, the goal is to learn to live with the risk of flooding. “But it is certain that some inhabitants for whom the threat is too great will also have to leave,” concludes Mr. Olinga.

Source: AFP

If anybody thought the sex scandal in the University of Buea will be leaving the headlines anytime soon, that person is totally mistaken. More evidence of sexual misconduct at the University of Buea is gradually emerging as some girls who have been victims of the University of Buea sex ring are getting bolder by the day and they really want to talk.

A tape has been sent to the Cameroon Concord News Group which details a conversation between Prof. Ernest Molua and one of his victims. The lady, who has asked for her identity to be protected for now, said she taped the discussion because she felt it could be useful someday. The tape delivers details of Prof. Molua’s carefully crafted intimidation tactics and how he runs down his victims before making the most of his opportunity.

Speaking to the Cameroon Concord News Group’s permanent correspondent in Buea, Molua’s victim said the former registrar was a master at manipulation and intimidation. She said he preyed on his victims by making them feel helpless and useless. He derived a lot of pleasure from diminishing other human beings.  

“Prof. Molua, who is vertically challenged, seems to make up for that deficiency by intimidating people, especially young girls he wants to have fun with. He demands for sex as if that is part of his benefits package. He lacks tact and diplomatic skills when it comes to talking to young girls,” the desperate lady said.

She added that “when he needs sex, he needs it immediately. It is like all the girls at the university are at his beck and call. In ordinary life, it is held that variety is the spice of life, but to Molua, variety is more than a spice. If sex is food to him, then variety should be a life-saving drug. Molua has lost respect among young girls. He used to be admired when he started his career at the university. He was elegant, smart, and friendly. But over the last years, he has become cocky, condescending, and even despicable. Many students do not trust him and no young girl who goes to his office comes out happy,” the lady stressed.

“He must be stopped. He has had more than his fair share of free sex. Sending him back to the classroom only makes it easy for him to prey on many young and vulnerable girls. Molua should be reduced to an administrator who has little or no contact with young girls. In a civilized society, he will be fired forthwith. As a registrar, he did protect other members of his sex ring. He was the one who got Prof. Kingsley Kange off the hook when there were massive allegations of sexual misconduct against Prof. Kange. He even supported Kange in his bid to frustrate PHD students who had to defend their thesis a couple of years ago. A registrar has no business with academic matters but Molua was always crossing those red lines with impunity. He must be checked or else he will continue to give the university a bad name. He is a reputational risk to the University of Buea,” the lady stressed.    

For Prof. Agborbechem whose destructive sexual prowess is known beyond the University of Buea, his main client, Eta Palace, is already witnessing a drop in business activities ever since the “satyr” got exposed. Before the scandal, Agborbechem was always seen at the hotel, seeking to take a room, sometimes on credit. Many people in Molyko wondered why a man who had a good home in Buea was always reserving hotel rooms. 

Professor Agborbechem’s criminal activities did not start today. While a teacher in Government High School Mamfe, he was the “silent terror” who kept female students permanently ill at ease.  His destructive tendencies know no age and no bounds. By Cameroon’s educational policy, a form three student should be between 14 and 15 years old and such students are considered internationally as underage, but Agborbechem did not care. He slept with them as if they were his wives. He is supposed to be investigated and, if possible, taken to court for abuse of minors and rape.

According to a former student of the professor who is known for his sexual vagrancy, he will even complicate his exams just to render his targets more vulnerable. The former student, who reacted to the first article published on the professor’s highly unusual and uncontrollable libido, said that:

“Prof. Agborbechem has been like that since in GHS Mamfe. He taught me mathematics in form three. He was already doing well in his sexual drama with girls that were beautiful but could not pass mathematics in form three. He sometimes even made the tests more difficult only to trap more customers,” the student who elected anonymity said.

Agborbechem is a juggernaut. He is indeed a whirlpool that picks up anything in skirt in its path. Any girl whose path crosses the learned professor’s path knows that she is in real trouble. He has a huge sexual appetite for young slim girls, and he will stop at nothing when it comes to sleeping with them. 

A source close to Eta Palace has hinted that Prof. Agborbechem is always broke, insinuating that casual sex was taking a huge bite out of his meager income. He seems to be addicted to it and his whole world revolves around that.

 “He really needs to see a psychotherapist. He is sick. Something is wrong with him. Once he takes a little alcohol, he loses control of himself and sometimes he can even confuse a man for a woman. As a man, if you do not want to be harassed by Agborbechem, make sure you are dressed up properly,” the source said.

Meanwhile, the Cameroon Concord News Group tried on Friday, August 27, 2021 to contact the Vice Chancellor of the University of Buea to discuss the current sex and money scandals that are eroding the university’s reputation and the Vice Chancellor’s determination to bring sanity to the university.  The Group’s editor-in-chief will be calling the vice chancellor again on Monday to schedule that interview.

With the Group having a permanent correspondent in Buea, the university must get to the bottom of this matter if it really wants to restore its lost reputation. The Group’s correspondent will be keeping an eye on some lecturers who are known to be a source of trouble to young girls who only want to study and leave the place. The University of Buea cannot be transformed into a brothel by the very people who are supposed to empower these girls academically. The Vice Chancellor must come up with policies that will result in a lecturer’s dismissal if he or she is found to be engaged in behavior that calls the university’s reputation into question. 

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai

Chairman/Editor-In-Chief

Cameroon Concord News and Cameroon Intelligence Report

Two Cameroon government soldiers deployed to Ekondo Titi were killed late Saturday in an Ambazonian attack in Lipenja, military sources said Sunday.

The Amba fighters, on foot attacked Cameroon government soldiers stationed at Lipenja killing 2 in the 30-minute gunfight.

Cameroon Concord News gathered that two other servicemen were injured in the fight.

The Anglophone regions’ relatively quiet start to 2021 was shattered in March by an intense series of IED attacks. Marking a new development in the Cameroonian conflict that has simmered for four years, at least one harrowing new video emerged every day. Each showcased the same pattern: the lumbering roll of a military convoy down a muddy forested road; the explosion underneath a lightly armoured Toyota; the immediate covering fire laid down in anticipation of an ambush; and, eventually, a silence punctuated by the cries of the wounded.

Improvised explosive devices (IEDs) have been used by separatists in the Anglophone conflict since at least late-2018, but the tactic has now reached maturity. Extensive video evidence reveals increasingly sophisticated use of the explosives, including the deliberate targeting of the army’s least protected vehicles, remote detonations, and the use of multiple IEDs. These attacks have been more frequent, more deadly and, most importantly, have not stopped.

By Chi Prudence Asong with additional reporting

A house fire has killed six children in Cameroon’s commercial hub of Douala, the Fire Fighting Brigade of the city said on Wednesday.

The victims from the same family ranged from kindergarten age to 15 years.

The children were sleeping in a makeshift house at the Brazzaville neighborhood of the city when the fire broke out Tuesday night, according to the Fire Fighting Brigade.

Their mother was not with them at the time of the blaze. Officials have launched an investigation into the tragedy.

Source: Xinhuanet

The Southern Cameroons Interim Government, IG, has renewed its commitment to fight strenuously for the release of all Southern Cameroons detainees including President Sisiku Ayuk Tabe and his top aides who are being kept behind bars in detention centers across La Republique du Cameroun and are subjected to various forms of torture and mistreatment.

Speaking to members of a Southern Cameroons think tank in Holland, the Vice President of the Southern Cameroons Interim Government Dabney Yerima said the IG and all Ambazonian front line leaders in exile will explore all avenues and will work tirelessly to secure the freedom of all Southern Cameroons detainees.

“Southern Cameroonians must continue to invest in the Big Rubbergun Project to exert pressure on the French Cameroun government and military in order to end the suffering of our detainees, especially President Sisiku Ayuk Tabe and his advisers – Yerima added.

Vice President Dabney Yerima lambasted the international community for its failure to take an effective measure against the Yaoundé regime’s growing mistreatment of Southern Cameroons prisoners of conscience.

Yerima called on the international community to force the Biya Francophone regime in French Cameroun into releasing all English speaking Southern Cameroonians in French Cameroun jails describing the detention of the Southern Cameroons leader and his senior advisers as a blatant violation of international conventions and principles, particularly the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, International Humanitarian Law and the Geneva Conventions on the Protection of Civilians and Prisoners of War.

Thousands of Southern Cameroonian detainees are currently held in many French Cameroun jails, with dozens of them including President Sisiku Ayuk Tabe serving multiple life sentences.

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai